The article by Myth Detector investigates an alleged audio recording in which a person claiming to be Giorgi Taktakishvili discusses pre-election tensions in Georgia and advises OSCE representatives to reject a bribe from “Georgian Dream,” with the OSCE/ODIHR spokesperson requesting details in writing. Through a collaborative fact-checking effort led by Myth Detector and supported by Mantis Analytics, Witness, Deepfakes Analysis Unit, and Validia, evidence has emerged indicating that Taktakishvili’s voice in the recording was manipulated. This article was originally published by Myth Detector.
On October 30, lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili released an audio recording that, according to him, captures a conversation between Katya Andrusz, a representative of the OSCE Election Observation Mission, and Giorgi Taktakishvili, co-founder of “Vote for Europe”. The post claims that, in the audio recording, Giorgi Taktakishvili, head of “Kant Academy” and the “Choose Europe” movement, threatens OSCE Election Observation Mission representative Katya Andrusz with a terrorist act.
In the audio recording, a person claiming to be Giorgi Taktakishvili describes the tensions in Georgia leading up to the elections and advises OSCE representatives to decline a bribe offered by “Georgian Dream.” The OSCE representative then asks for the details in writing and provides an email address.
The post further notes that this “act of telephone terror” was also carried out with representatives from the U.S. Election Commission, the Latvian Observation Mission, and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
The video was published on October 29 by the Telegram channel Грузинский прохожий (Georgian Passerby).
The audio recording allegedly featuring a conversation between Giorgi Taktakishvili and Katya Andrusz, spokesperson for the OSCE/ODIHR monitoring mission, was fact-checked by Myth Detector with assistance from specialized organizations (Mantis Analytics, Witness, Deepfakes Analysis Unit, and Validia). Findings from all four organizations reveal manipulation of Giorgi Taktakishvili’s voice in the recording.
- What response do Katya Andrusz and Giorgi Taktakishvili offer?
“Myth Detector” reached out to Katya Andrusz, spokesperson for the OSCE Monitoring Mission, to verify the information. In the correspondence, Andrusz affirmed that she did receive such a call during the pre-election period. She mentioned that she requested the caller to submit any information or messages in writing and provided an email address, but the caller never followed up. On the other hand, Giorgi Taktakishvili denied contacting the OSCE mission’s spokesperson and commented on the recording provided by “Myth Detector,” stating that his voice sounded entirely different from that of the person in the audio. Taktakishvili noted that, in the recording, the person speaking on his behalf even says the name of the organization incorrectly in English. The organization is actually called “Vote For Europe,” but in the audio, the person identified as Giorgi Taktakishvili says “Choose Europe” instead.
- Who else received a call?
The post also mentions that this same “act of telephone terror” was directed at representatives of the U.S. Election Commission, the Latvian Observer Mission, and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
Kristine Saulite, a representative of the Latvian Observation Mission, was the only one to confirm receiving a suspicious call to Myth Detector. She reported that the call was made to her phone on October 21 at 17:03 from the number +995345872319. Saulite noted that the call quality was poor, and the caller identified themselves as being from the Central Election Commission of Georgia, stating they wanted to warn the Latvian Observation Mission. She requested the notification to be sent by email, but no further messages of this kind were received. To verify the call, the Latvian observation mission contacted Georgia’s Election Commission, which denied making this call or any similar ones.
“Myth Detector” attempted to contact the number that called the representative of the Latvian Observation Mission. Notably, the area code 345 corresponds to Stepantsminda (townlet in Georgia), but the number +995345872319 is currently unavailable.
“Myth Detector” has not yet received a response from the U.S. Election Commission, while the National Democratic Institute (NDI) informed us that they did not receive any similar calls during the pre-election period.
- Analysis of the distributed audio recordings
Given that the speaker of the OSCE Monitoring Mission confirmed receiving the call, while Giorgi Taktakishvili denied making it, we decided to consider two possible scenarios.
- The possibility of generating Taktakishvili’s voice using artificial intelligence.
- An anonymous individual making a call to international observers claiming to be Giorgi Taktakishvili.
To determine if there were any signs of artificial intelligence use in the audio recording and to assess whether the speaker’s voice matched Giorgi Taktakishvili’s authentic voice, “Myth Detector” consulted four specialized organizations (Mantis Analytics, Witness, Deepfakes Analysis Unit, and Validia) experts in audio verification and Deepfake detection technologies.
The analysis conducted by these organizations using various tools produced the following results:
- Tools such as TrueMedia, Deep Media, Hive, Hiya, and Elevenlabs flagged anomalies, including unnatural pauses and issues, indicating potential modification or synthetic manipulation.
- Voice Similarity Comparison between an Authentic Recording Person and a Distributed Audio Recording returns a moderate or low similarity score. Distinctive features in the voice, such as an accent and a deeper tone, differed from Taktakishvili’s actual speech characteristics, suggesting recording may have been a compilation of multiple voices.
- Qualitative evaluations, focused on specific features, revealed signs like a deep voice, slow pace, and unnatural pauses or transitions between words, all of which may suggest synthetic manipulation. The absence of a background voice and unnatural transition between words further raised suspicions.
- Metadata analysis showed that the file was created using external software, indicating possible modification.
- Mantis Analytics
Mantis Analytics analyzed the distributed audio recording from two angles: determining whether the audio was generated using artificial intelligence and assessing whether the male voice in the recording matched Giorgi Taktakishvili’s actual voice. Accordingly, a technical analysis of the recording was conducted, along with a comparison of voice similarity between the distributed recording and the authentic voice of Giorgi Taktakishvili. The first tool used in the technical analysis, TrueMedia, detected signs of manipulation in the recording, reporting high confidence in some instances (99% and 76%) but lower confidence in others (16% and 13%). This tool’s audio manipulation detectors search for traces of specific edits in the recording, such as inconsistencies in voice tone, unnatural pauses, or other manipulation artifacts. The second tool, Deepfake Total, detected possible manipulations in specific segments of the audio (e.g., 0-2s, 11-17s, and 40-46s); however, its overall confidence that the analyzed audio might involve artificial intelligence manipulations was low (12.9%).
In the voice recording similarity assessment, Resemblyzer indicated a moderate similarity score of 0.66, suggesting a possible alignment but with a significant range. This score implies that, while there is some resemblance between the voices, the level of similarity and variation suggest they may not belong to the same person, with noticeable differences present. A second tool, Blue2Digital, provided a lower similarity score of 24.14%, suggesting a substantial probability that the speakers in the two audios are different.
- The Blue2Digital – Mantis Analytics
Mantis Analytics also used “human intelligence” and evaluated both a separate audio recording and compared it with Giorgi Taktakishvili’s real voice. According to the assessment of the intelligence analyst, the person speaking on behalf of Giorgi Taktakishvili in the distributed audio recording has a deeper, more mature tone, with a noticeable Russian accent, and speaks at a slower pace. The recording also reveals technical distortions and abrupt transitions, which may suggest synthetic manipulation. In contrast, Taktakishvili’s speech has a light, youthful tone, with smooth transitions and a natural flow.
Mantis Analytics suggests that, if synthetic manipulation is involved, it is more likely that voice cloning software was used rather than simple AI-generated audio.
- Witness
The distributed audio was analyzed by three teams from Witness.org. One team focused on the file format, while the other two on the content of the audio. The first team, Medex Forensics, analyzed the metadata of the video shared on Telegram and discovered that the video (an audio recording combined with images of the speakers) was not captured directly and uploaded by the device to Telegram but was created in a different software. The metadata analysis concluded that based on the metadata, there was no support that the audio was AI-generated. However, it’s important to note that the team examined only the file format, not the actual content. The teams that analyzed the audio content reached inconsistent conclusions. The first team, Medex Forensics, did not detect any signs of AI manipulation. It’s important to note that the recording has various characteristics that complicate analysis and the delivery of accurate results for Deepfake detectors. Another team, Trusted Media, analyzed the audio and found indications that indicate its falsity. The team compared the recording with four authentic samples of Giorgi Taktakishvili’s voice using a speaker verification tool, which produced a significantly lower score. This result suggests that the voice in the audio did not resemble Taktakishvili’s authentic voice. They also applied a Deepfake detection tool, which indicated a high probability that the audio was fake. Additionally, the rhythm and tone variations (cadence) in the recording did not match the verified samples.
- Deepfakes Analysis Unit
The Deepfakes Analysis Unit is a platform dedicated to identifying and analyzing deepfakes, with a particular emphasis on detecting audio and video manipulations. To analyze the audio, the Deepfakes Analysis Unit utilized the following tools: TrueMedia, Hive, Hiya, and Elevenlabs. They also isolated a man’s voice from the distributed audio recording (a 22 second chunk (time code: 0:25-0:47) and separately ran it through the same set of tools as well as six classifiers available on DEEPFAKE-O-METER. It is important to note that these classifiers work well with single speaker audio without background noise hence they did not run the entire audio file through it.
Notably, all the tools are not giving the same results and that’s the nature of A.I-detection tools but it is clear that tools are pointing to some manipulation in the isolated sample. According to Hiya, there’s a likelihood of it being AI-generated. True Media is suggesting some manipulation in it, while for the entire audio clip it is suggesting that there is more likelihood of it being AI-generated; the reason for this might be that the tool has been able to pick more traces of A.I. across the audio file. The HIVE’s results for both the audio files, complete conversation and isolated 22-seconds sample, point to no A.I. elements. The results from Elevenlabs were not definitive on whether artificial intelligence was used to create the audio.
Of the six classifiers from the DEEPFAKE-O-METER platform 4 give more than 50% probability of the audio (isolated chunk) being A.I.-generated.
- Validia
The Deepfakes Analysis Unit also provided an analysis from the San Francisco-based startup Validia, which compared Giorgi Taktakishvili’s authentic voice to that of the speaker in the audio recording. Validia’s initial analysis suggested that the audio appeared to be more likely not AI-generated, as the accents and pitch of the voice definitely were misaligned. However, after running it through the audio similarity check, there were significant areas of similarity. While the accent may not match, other aspects of the voice such as pitch, tone were significantly similar to the original speaker’s voice. This result suggests that the audio may have been generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
It’s worth noting that speech-to-speech technology has aspects that allow for one voice (in this case, the original) to be converted into a cloned voice, while preserving the tone and delivery of the original voice. Validia’s analysis indicates that speech-to-speech technology displays blend aspects of both Taktakishvili’s voice and other voices. In this instance, the AI-generated voice contains characteristics of the original speaker’s voice along with features from another voice, such as a Russian accent.
- About Giorgi Taktakishvili
Giorgi Taktakishvili, whose name was used in the audio recording, is the co-founder of the “Vote for Europe” movement. This civil movement encouraged Georgian citizens to participate in the parliamentary elections. In September 2024, the Anti-Corruption Bureau classified “Transparency International – Georgia” and its director, Eka Gigauri, along with the “Vote for Europe” movement, its director Khatuna Lagazidze, and the movement’s co-founders, including Giorgi Taktakishvili, as entities with electoral goals. The Bureau requested that they submit financial reports within five days. The Anti-Corruption Bureau stated that “these organizations, both directly and through the ‘My Vote for the European Union’ campaign, are actively engaged in pre-election activities aimed at supporting certain political parties and discouraging support for others.”
EU spokesperson Peter Stano and members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee strongly criticized the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s decision. On October 1, 2024, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that he found it appropriate to revoke the “organization with declared electoral purpose” status assigned by the Anti-Corruption Bureau to Transparency International-Georgia and other organizations. Following his statement, the Anti-Corruption Bureau rescinded its decision.
- What do we know about the Telegram channel that distributed the recording?
The Russian-language Telegram channel “Грузинский прохожий” (@georgia_man) focuses on Georgia and its citizens’ involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It regularly publishes news about Georgian fighters and volunteers in Ukraine, including information on damage and casualties. and personal stories from members of the Georgian Legion. The channel also shares the experiences and personal stories of members of the Georgian Legion.
In September 2024, the aforesaid Telegram channel reported the death of a Georgian volunteer at a Ukrainian Armed Forces base. The post stated that one of the channel’s, Грузинский прохожий, administrators and informants had been killed. The Telegram channel wrote, “Today, we were informed about a brutal murder. The perpetrator inflicted fatal wounds on our brother’s back, and his face was terribly mutilated. The massacre occurred in one of the houses at the temporary deployment location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The perpetrator has fled, and the relevant authorities are actively searching for him.” However, it’s important to note that this information was not reported in the Ukrainian media. For further verification, “Myth Detector” reached out to Georgian fighters in Ukraine. Both the “Georgian Legion” and “Caucasian Legion” stated that they had not received any information regarding such an incident. They also clarified that they do not know the administrator of the Telegram channel, and, despite the channel frequently sharing stories about members of these legions, it has no affiliation with either the “Georgian Legion” or “Caucasian Legion.”
The Telegram channel was created during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Its first message describes “Грузинский прохожий” as channel promising readers up-to-date analyses of events occurring in Georgia and internationally.
Initially, the Telegram channel also circulated satirical posts related to the coronavirus pandemic. For example, it posted, “The Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Ghebreyesus, praised Georgia for its measures to combat the spread of coronavirus. Thanks, Tedros, your words are the best vaccine.” Another post read, “Arnold Schwarzenegger called on Georgians to stop going to restaurants. ‘Then let’s go to a cafe,’ replied the Georgians.”
From that period until February 2022, the channel shared political (1,2,3,4) and economic news (1,2) about Georgia and neighboring countries, though it exhibited a noticeably less critical stance toward Putin and pro-Russian parties. In reference to the “Alliance of Patriots” election poster, where a graffiti artist allegedly painted an image of Putin, the Telegram channel expressed the following opinion: “And it’s Putin’s fault again… Georgian nationalists don’t tire of using the figure of the Russian president in their pre-election PR campaigns. This time, the poster depicting the leaders of the ‘Georgian Alliance of Patriots’ party was biasedly altered by a Batumi graffiti artist with the pseudonym BIIMO. Remember! Now, any party that rejects the nationalist rhetoric of the Georgian opposition is unconditionally recognized as Putin’s ‘puppet’.”
Following the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war, the Telegram channel shifted its focus to sharing information about combat operations and Georgian fighters in Ukraine. At first glance, it appears to support those fighting against Russia (1,2); however, the channel also periodically displays anti-Western sentiments (1,2) and negatively covers topics related to LGBT issues (1,2).
For example, in June 2022, the Telegram channel disseminated photos featuring supporters of Georgian “conservative movement” burning the flags of the United States and the European Union. The post mentioned that both demonstrations and independent protests took place across Georgia in support of conservative values and the traditional family structure. The post claimed that “citizens who were not indifferent toward the fate of their nation and state” gathered en masse to burn the EU and U.S. flags, which Georgian society viewed as the primary promoters of the LGBT agenda in Georgia.
The Telegram channel’s response to the pro-Ukraine resolution prepared by “Georgian Dream” in 2022 is also notable. According to their assessment, “Georgian Dream” crafted a more diplomatic text, avoiding provocative and populist language, which allegedly led the Georgian opposition to “go mad,” demanding that the resolution explicitly address Russia’s negative role in the conflict. The post further stated, “Georgia should send the entire Georgian opposition to the war, especially Saakashvili’s party. First, they’re worsening the situation in every way possible, and second, they’re still not in the parliament, only focusing on organizing protests and pickets.”
Archive of audio recordings: