The authenticity of the recording of a conversation between Gia Japaridze and Giorgi Botkoveli circulated on social media has not been confirmed
On December 10, 2025, pages and accounts supportive of Georgian Dream (1, 2) disseminated an audio recording in which unidentified individuals discuss BBC’s journalistic investigation. According to that investigation, during rallies in December 2024, water cannons allegedly deployed a toxic chemical agent known as “Camite”.The recording features a conversation between two individuals. The statements in the recording creates a perception that the BBC’s investigation was allegedly prepared in exchange for money and that the accusation about “Camite” being mixed into the water cannons was deliberately fabricated. On December 11, supporter accounts of the Georgian Dream (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) and anonymous pages dedicated to discrediting opponents of the Georgian Dream (1, 2) disseminated the same recording in a coordinated manner. According to the accounts, the recording features Gia Japaridze, a member of the party list of United National Movement for the 2024 elections, and Giorgi Botkoveli, a member of the same party.
Several important circumstances indicate that the audio recording is fake and was most likely generated using artificial intelligence.
First of all, the technical characteristics of the recording are problematic and may point to the use of artificial intelligence. In the recording attributed to Gia Japaridze and Giorgi Botkoveli, the tone and pitch of the voices are uniform and do not change. The speakers do not vary their pitch, speak in a monotonous tone, and show little emotional expression. In real conversations, people typically vary their tone, raise or lower their voices, and express more emotion. The background sound in this recording is also uniform. Real audio recordings usually contain slight room echoes and ambient noises. The recording attributed to Gia Japaridze and Giorgi Botkoveli is clean, with no variation in background noise, which is characteristic of AI-generated or studio-recorded audio.
GeoFact analyzed the recording using AI-detection tools. According to results obtained with the Hiya audio detector embedded in the InVID & WeVerify tool, the audio recording is 58% AI-generated. The tool divides the audio into three-second segments and analyzes them individually; the 58% figure represents the average across the entire recording. For example, the segment from 9 to 12 seconds is assessed as 90% AI-generated, while the segment from 30 to 36 seconds is assessed as 20%.
According to DeepFake Total, a tool developed by the German cybersecurity company Fraunhofer AISEC, the recording is 92.7% AI-generated.
GeoFact also analyzed authentic recordings of Gia Japaridze and Giorgi Botkoveli using the same tools. The tools assessed those recordings as real.
GeoFact further analyzed the audio using other tools such as Hive Moderation and the University at Buffalo’s DeepFake-o-meter. However, testing showed that these tools do not produce reliable conclusions: they assessed verified fake audio as authentic and verified authentic material as AI-generated. It should be noted that artificial intelligence evolves faster than AI-detection tools. At the same time, English-language detection tools have greater difficulty analyzing Georgian-language audio. AI-detection tools do not always provide precise results; however, the results obtained using Hiya and DeepFake Total strengthen the suspicion that the circulated recording was generated by artificial intelligence.
Additionally, GeoFact requested assistance with audio analysis from WITNESS’s Deepfakes Rapid Response Force (DRRF), which consists of deepfake experts. Typically, several teams within DRRF review the material and reach conclusions independently. In this case, due to limited resources, only one team was able to analyze the audio and concluded that the recording was most likely AI-generated. To verify the tool’s accuracy, the team also analyzed authentic recordings of conversations between Gia Japaridze and Giorgi Botkoveli using the same tool. The tool confirmed those recordings to be real, which indicated that the analysis functioned properly. Because only one team was able to conduct the analysis, WITNESS’s experts recommended using additional verification methods. Accordingly, in addition to technical analysis, GeoFact employed traditional fact-checking methods, including examining sources and evidence, and context analysis.
It should also be noted that there is no clearly identifiable original source of the recording; therefore, it is unknown who obtained and disseminated the audio and how, which further calls its authenticity into question. It is also suspicious that the recording was disseminated in a coordinated manner by Georgian Dream supporter pages and accounts within a one-hour period on December 11.
It is likewise noteworthy that the recording was not by media outlets with editorial policies supportive of the Georgian Dream. Nor did members of Georgian Dream comment on it. The audio recording was published around 6:00 p.m. on December 11 by the online outlet Prime Time, similar to Georgian Dream supporters; however, the article only references a video published by an anti-opposition anonymous TikTok page, which is not a reliable source. Giorgi Botkoveli responded to the Prime Time article by writing on social media that the recording was generated by artificial intelligence. Gia Japaridze also published a post, calling the recording a “fabrication and fake,” and stated that he had never had a telephone conversation with Giorgi Botkoveli.
The claim implied by the contents of the recording, that the BBC publishes fake investigations and articles about Georgia in exchange for Money, is itself questionable. There is no evidence that the BBC has ever received money from any external actor, business, or government, including the British government, in exchange for producing a specific political article or investigation.
GeoFact contacted the BBC with questions regarding the circulated audio recording. The BBC denied the allegation that it accepted money in exchange for an investigation and added that “this investigation serves the public interest and is consistent with the BBC’s editorial guidelines. The BBC is independent and disseminates information without fear, bias, or a specific agenda.”
It is also noteworthy that the claims reflected heard in the recording had been voiced by senior Georgian Dream officials before the recording was published.
In conclusion, the results obtained by GeoFact through independent testing with AI-detection tools, the analysis conducted by WITNESS’s Deepfakes Rapid Response Force, and the circumstances surrounding both the distributors and the content of the recording indicate that the alleged conversation between Gia Japaridze and Giorgi Botkoveli was generated by artificial intelligence and is inauthentic.
