RED FACE Leo Varadkar has replaced government security protocols related to video calls after committing an embarrassing Russian prank.
A video posted online this week shows the Taoiseach on a video call with Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus telling the Irish leader to “say hello to your elves. “
The Russian jokers – real names Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov – have managed to catch out a number of world leaders with their prank calls including Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Boris Johnson.
The comedians gained access to the Taoiseach by posing as African Union diplomats and synthetic intelligence to adjust their symbol and voice.
In a post of the video, the comedians said the Taoiseach “seemed to have a good dose of Guinness” while “sharing his dreams of separating Northern Ireland from Great Britain. “
The Taoiseach also asked about Ukraine and the option for Ireland to join NATO.
An embarrassed Leo Varadkar told The Irish Sun that he had been caught up in the hoax several months ago and claimed that his call did not resemble the video released this week.
He said: “It’s as it seems in your video. There were no Russians. They used an AI symbol from a user who works with the African Union.
“So what they did was dub it with those Russian voices. They manipulated and edited it.
“So what you see on this site is not what happened. So it’s wrong in that sense.
“But they managed to secure the video call by pretending to be someone who works for the African Union and at the beginning of the call, because they used the user’s symbol and their voice, we believed it was genuine.
“But very temporarily it became very obvious that something was going on and, as you probably know, I ended the call.
“But I had to play along for a while before I assumed it was a suspicious call, but I think I realize from my answers to the questions that I was very careful in my answers because I immediately became suspicious and then it happened. “”It becomes more and more apparent during the verbal exchange that it was fake. “
The Taoiseach said Ireland informed the African Union of the charade to prevent other leaders from being caught.
The Fine Gael leader said the joke had replaced the way the government handled video calls, as it now needs to have more in-person conversations.
He said: “As a result of that we have to now change our procedures and we have changed our procedures in relation to video calls.
“This is the new world of synthetic intelligence. It is now very simple to produce a fake symbol of someone on a screen and that fake symbol can have the person’s voice and gestures.
“So, in a way, I think one of the weird consequences of things like AI is that other people will need to see things a little bit more for themselves.
“People will be much less accepting of the photographs, videos and photographs they see on screens and will need to be able to hear with their own ears and see with their own eyes.
“So we’re going to have to have very strict protection protocols in the future, which we’re doing, but I think in general, because of technological advancements, there’s going to have to be a lot more going on in the user than we could have. I thought, during the pandemic, we’re going to move to a virtual world.
©News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. 679215 Registered Office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. “The Sun”, “Sun”, “Sun Online” are registered trade marks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. This service is provided under News Group Newspapers’ Limited’s popular terms and situations in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. To inquire about a license to reproduce material, please visit our distribution site. Check out our online press kit. For other inquiries, please contact us. To view all of The Sun’s content, please use the site map. Sun’s website is regulated through the Independent Press Standards Organization (IPSO).