Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats (SD), is set to deliver a speech to the nation in Arabic with the help of an AI clone. The decision comes as a response to the fact that a large portion of the population does not engage with political information in Swedish, according to SD’s communications manager, Joakim Wallerstein.
Åkesson has previously delivered speeches to the nation on the party’s YouTube channel, and this time, he is targeting the Arabic-speaking population. Using artificial intelligence, an Arabic-speaking Åkesson will repeat the message from his latest speech, according to SD’s press spokesperson, Oskar Cavalli Björkman.
”I have to be completely honest. I don’t think you should be here. For me, you are not welcome in Sweden,” Åkesson had said in his previous speech.
Wallerstein hopes that this effort will reach a new audience. ”This can resonate with people who usually don’t come across our messages, not because they’re politically uninterested, but because they may not follow Swedish-language media. However, it can also be people who are abroad but still have relatives in Sweden,” he explains.
Political scientist Jonas Hinnfors finds it ironic that SD is now adapting to immigrant groups. ”It is surprising when they translate Åkesson’s speech into Arabic, given that this is the group that they repeatedly consider to have the most difficulty adapting and is the most problematic in a Sweden Democrat context,” he comments.
