It’s no surprise that an AI-spoofed presidential speech condemning exploitation abroad went viral – the world is suffering from a leadership vacuum

FFor a moment, the speech attributed to the Namibian president went around the world like a glimmer of hope. It was intense. Defiant. Unashamedly confident. The speaker denounced corruption, condemned foreign exploitation and explained that Africa’s resources belong not to politicians or multinational corporations, but to the people. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah spoke of leaders giving away state assets behind closed doors and warned that those who abuse the public trust must be held accountable. It sounded like the language of decolonization reborn.

On social media, many listened with admiration. Finally, here was a leader speaking with moral clarity. This was the rhetoric that generations of postcolonial citizens had been waiting for. But there was a problem. It was a fake. Nandi-Ndaitwah rejected it as an AI-generated invention.

Somewhere someone had created a fantasy. But perhaps that is precisely why the speech, published last year, was so widely circulated and…