PRIME Minister Stuart Young repeated his warning to the population about the Opposition UNC's alleged use of artificial intelligence (AI) in a desperate attempt to persuade people to vote for them in the April 28 general election.
He did so when he addressed a PNM public meeting at Exodus Pan Theatre, Tunapuna on April 5.
Earlier in the day when he toured a new $35 million San Fernando Fishing Centre, Young said the PNM had evidence the UNC and its agents were using artificial intelligence to go on to government websites and PNM websites to create fake profiles and put out false comments.
Referring to information on his phone, Young told PNM supporters about a video circulated on social media hours before the meeting to give the impression there was active gang warfare taking place in Tunapuna.
As prime minister and chairman of the National Security Council, he continued, you get certain information.
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"Last night, after midnight, as the prime minister, I had a series of people sending me a video."
Young said, "There was a video of rapid gunfire as if it was a war zone and people was telling us that was Tunapuna."
He immediately contacted National Security Minister Marvin Gonzales and asked for it to be urgently investigated.
"We all knew the PNM was coming here for this meeting tonight."
Young said he received a report at 9.36 pm on April 5 from the police on their investigation into that video.
"This is a warning Trinidad and Tobago as to the type of tactics and the way that the UNC and its operators are trying influence wrongly TT."
He said, "I can now say without fear of contradiction our services having investigated and the cyber unit having investigated that video...that the video is fake and made by a video game."
Young repeated his questions about where is the UNC getting the funding to initiate such alleged initiatives.
He referred to a video of a UNC meeting in Macoya earlier in the evening, which showed attorney Israel Khan, SC, and former FIFA vice-president and former UNC chairman Jack Warner in the crowd.
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"I strongly suspect the people who are funding that campaign are people who want to stay out of jail and people who have trouble in court."
Young said, "This PNM government does not have that problem. You do not have to worry when you elect this PNM government that at any point in time...as any member of the cabinet is leaving Whitehall after cabinet (meeting), you have a process server coming to serve them for corruption like Eden Gardens or EMBD or worse yet, you have a police officer knocking on their door with a warrant."
PNM La Horquetta/Talparo candidate Foster Cummings raised similar concerns about the UNC's alleged use of AI in his address to the meeting.
Cummings, who is also PNM general secretary and Youth Development Minister, said yellow is not the code for any right-thinking citizen to follow.
"Red is the word."
