New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appears to be a man of many languages.
In a video shared on his social media, the politician, 34, announced on Thursday, August 13, that his office was partnering with a non-profit to “give away more than two thousand free Broadway tickets to high school students across the five boroughs.”
Mamdani followed up that message with two other videos shared on his social media pages, announcing the news in Mandarin and Bengali later that week.
After speculation circulated online that the former New York State Assembly member used AI in the video where he spoke Mandarin, Press Secretary and Chief Spokesperson Joe Calvello took to X to shut down the rumors: “And just to be clear this is NOT AI.”
In a statement to The New York Times on Sunday, August 16, a spokeswoman revealed that Mamdani has not spoken or studied Mandarin seriously since his years at Bronx High School of Science.
New York State Senator John Liu is fluent in Mandarin and told the outlet he would give Mamdani a “solid B,” noting he used “proper tones and effective emphasis on various clauses,” in the pronunciation.
Liu teased, “It’s only the first marking period, and it’s sure to get better,” and said he would give Mamdani an “A+ for effort.”
While campaigning to be mayor, Mamdani spoke Arabic, Hindi and Urdu, per the New York Times, which proved valuable to him, as the New York State website estimates that NYC residents speak over 800 languages.
Al Jazeera reported in July 2025 that “experts” think “Mamdani successfully used his skills in multiple languages to appeal to voters who often are not targeted by mainstream election campaigns, highlighting policy proposals targeting voters’ biggest concerns, like affordability.”
This story NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Team Insists He Didn’t Use AI for Video of Him Sharing News in Mandarin first appeared on Globe. Follow Globe on Yahoo so you don’t miss what’s coming next.