Well, that's interesting! This is going to become more and more common to the point where people don't scratch beneath the surface.

Apart from the uses discussed, it seems AI also offers a potential defense - it wasn't me that done it, it was AI!. In many cases, it might be hard to prove otherwise.

That's right. I'd add that as this sort of thing becomes common, people won't have time to bother with the truth. So a politician, CEO, etc. will 'say' something, then claim it was AI, and that's that. The effect will be that, real or not, what was said will still impact some peoples' sense of reality.

It could also just come down to reaffirming what people already believe, selective perception. Those who want to believe what was said, will, and those who don't, won't, regardless of whether it was AI or human. I mean, we could encounter multiple events such as this (the principal) every day moving forward, and won't have time to stop and question each one.