DeSantis camp’s use of fake images against President Trump is part of AI ‘arms race’

Governor Ron DeSantis’ political activism is clear Using Artificial Intelligence Generated Fake Photos of Former President Donald Trump Hugging and Kissing Anthony Fauci has raised concerns among experts about the ability of the new technology to deceive voters.

the photo was part of it 40 second video posted last week by @DeSantisWarRoom DeSantis’ biggest rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump, took to Twitter to criticize him for not firing infectious-disease expert Fauci, who was a member of the White House coronavirus task force. Many Republicans say Mr. Fauci advised businesses and schools to keep needlessly closed throughout the pandemic.

The lifelike images, which appear to have been generated by AI technology, appeared to show Trump and Fauci embracing in various locations inside the White House. The fake images were interspersed with real photos of the two together.

The video, posted by a Twitter account that responds quickly to DeSantis’ campaign, is the latest example of generative artificial intelligence being used in campaign attacks to create realistic images with a few prompts and replicate human voices. rice field.

In May, Trump shared a two-minute parody video of Mr. DeSantis’ presidential announcement on Truth Social and Instagram, making it appear as if Mr. DeSantis was making the announcement at the same time as the president. Devil, Adolf Hitler, etc.And a few days later, Donald Trump Jr. shared a video It replaced the character of Steve Carell from the hit show The Office with someone who looked and sounded like DeSantis. In this scene, sitcom characters mock Carell’s character for unwittingly wearing a woman’s suit.

These videos appear to have been created by other users rather than the Trump camp, and the altered images and sounds seem to be intended to make it easier for viewers to know that they have been processed, but they are all generated by AI. did not disclose that it was

Fake photos of Trump kissing Fauci have further blurred the line between real and fake. and it is likely to happen more and more said Janet Coates, director of the University of Florida’s Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology.

Coates said that as technology advances and the 2024 election approaches, generative AI will become more commonplace, sophisticated, and difficult to separate from real life.

Already, there are many free or cheap voice clone apps available online and relatively easy to use. Many require a short audio sample of someone speaking, which can be used to generate a human voice that says whatever the user wants.

“There will be an arms race going on until November 2024,” Coates said. “Right now, people are putting their toes in the water, but I think we will be able to do more and more once we understand what the water can do. will become increasingly difficult because we will flood it.”

The Republican National Committee sparked debate last month about the use of AI in political messaging after posting a 30-second dystopian depiction of what America might look like if President Joe Biden is reelected. The top left corner of the video contains a disclaimer stating that the image was generated by AI.

In May, the American Association of Political Consultants condemned the use of deceptive AI-generated content in political campaigns.

After the DeSantis campaign posted a video of Trump and Fauci, A community note on Twitter flagged the post and warned readers that the video contained fake AI-generated images. AFP fact-checking first flagged the fake photo.

Some Republicans rebelled against the DeSantis campaign.

“Dirtying Donald Trump with fake AI images is totally unacceptable.” Ohio Senator JD Vance said:support the re-election of President Trump. “I won’t share them, but we are in a new era. Be even more skeptical of what you see on the internet.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green, an avid Trump supporter, also said: criticized It was an ad that the post should be deleted.

In a May 24 DeSantis ad, there was also speculation that AI was being used by fighter planes flying over the governor during his speech. It’s unclear if the added jets are due to AI or manual digital alterations.

On June 8, Christina Puchot, director of rapid response at DeSantis, seemed to push back against the criticism. Posted Screenshot of Trump post on Truth Social featuring Ron DeSantis riding a rhinoceros believed to be an allusion That DeSantis is a nominal Republican, that is, RINO. Above the screenshot, Pusho wrote: “I think this is an AI-generated image. Do you know?”

When asked about the images of Fauci and Trump, a Trump spokesperson said, “Fake images from fake campaigns for fake candidates. There was Bush’s “clap your hands” energy. “

The DeSantis campaign did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment.

On June 5th, the Democrats US Congressman Richie Torres of New York introduced a bill that would require disclaimers for AI-generated content.

nevertheless The general public knows that AI-generated images and sounds exist, but as the technology improves and becomes more common, Such content can result in “visual clutter” that people find unacceptable and not viewed critically, Coates said.

Coates said the campaign could also try to use AI to backtrack on previously stated positions by altering the actual content or claiming that the actual content was generated by AI. It says.

“If there’s just too much information and you can’t easily tell that this isn’t real, this person didn’t say this, this is misinformation, disinformation, it gets really, really complicated. will be,” Coates said.