Indigenous voice to parliament: AI No group denies relationship with Warren Mundine and Jacinta Price

The man behind a minor No campaign group that has drawn criticism for using AI generated videos has denied having a formal or informal relationship with either Warren Mundine or Senator Jacinta Price.

An AI generated image in No campaign videos on the Constitutional Equality Facebook Page.

The man behind a No campaign group that has drawn criticism for using AI generated videos has denied having a formal or informal relationship with Warren Mundine or Country-Liberal senator Jacinta Price.

The ABC was forced to issue a statement of clarification after former NAIDOC co-chair and journalist John Paul Janke said voice opponents were using AI to make it appear “like it is an ­Indigenous person supporting the No campaign”.

Phillip Mobbs, who is running Constitutional Equality, said AI was a cost-effective way to create campaign videos that reflected multicultural Australia. “What you’ll observe is the avatar is clearly not Indigenous but (it) does reflect the multicultural society we live in,” he said.

“It is a person of colour, a brown person of colour, who reflects the vast bulk of our wonderful multicultural society.

“It’s a false accusation [and] again notice the Yes campaign is introducing race into the debate.”

Mr Mobbs, whose background is in education, said he had no relationship with Senator Price, Mr Mundine or No campaign group Advance Australia.

The Constitutional Equality Facebook page is followed by about 2000 people.

Janke on Sunday told ABC program Insiders that the No campaign was behind the use of AI and doubled down when questioned by host David Speers on whether it was the official No campaign or a random group.

“They are supporting obviously different voices, and they are under the guise of moderate ­voices against the voice like it’s Australians for Unity, but they are using AI of a Blak character supporting the No case,” he said.

The ABC later issued a statement clarifying that the Australians for Unity campaign, which is co-ordinated by Mr Mundine and Senator Price, was not affiliated with the AI generated videos.

An SBS spokesman said it continued to support Janke for raising awareness of misinformation and disinformation around the proposed voice on social media.

“Some of these videos using AI have attracted over 85,000 views and his comments highlight the important discussion needed around the nature of such campaign techniques,” he said.

“On NITV and through our coverage across the SBS network, we’re focused on ensuring all ­Australians have access to accurate news and information during this debate.”

Mr Mundine and Senator Price deny using AI in their campaign materials.