Republicans are attacking Maine Gov. Janet Mills (Democratic), who is running for the U.S. Senate, with a fake artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video of her giving a boy an “estrogen kit that doesn't require parental permission.”
Last year, Mills became a vocal supporter of transgender rights and did not bow to pressure from the president to ban transgender children from participating in school sports.
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But instead of just criticizing her for her transgender support record, Republicans decided to use deepfake videos.
The ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) takes on the tone of a '90s infomercial selling the “Janet Mills Collection.” While the robot's voiceover misrepresents her policy positions, the AI-generated video shows the “consequences” of those policies. Since these are not actual results of Mills' policies, generative AI technology was likely used and there was no actual video available.
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The first tableau depicts a cisgender boy driving around a truck with several cisgender girls in the back, with Mills acting as a timer. Mills “forces girls to compete with biological men,” the voiceover says. The reason there is no actual video depicting this situation is because Mills never supported the inclusion of boys in women's sports, but instead supported allowing one type of girl (transgender girls) to compete against other girls.
In the next scene, a boy wearing a polo shirt who appears to be about eight or nine years old is standing in a women's clothing store as Mills hands him a box containing an old syringe. A voiceover says that Mills is bringing “an estrogen kit that doesn't require parental permission.”
Hormone therapy is not part of the standard of care for transgender children that age, and children that age cannot receive many medical treatments without parental permission. But Democrats' insistence that they want young children to receive age-inappropriate, gender-affirming care has become a key strategy the right has used to create moral panic over transgender children.
A voiceover also says that Mills “shuts up parents while minors are prescribed hormones,” and the video also shows a younger boy injecting himself with a syringe.
In the final scene, Mills is shown wearing a fur coat and drinking champagne in a hospital waiting room, while a voiceover criticizes her family for profiting from gender-affirming care. It's unclear what the ad is referring to, but the idea that doctors profit from making children transgender is an established right-wing conspiracy theory intended to discredit medical research showing that gender-affirming care is safe and lifesaving for transgender youth.
The ad does not include any quotes from Mills or the bill she signed. These are typical features of political attack ads used to make accusations seem more realistic. But AI-generated video appears to be playing a role in this ad. The realistic-looking video provides “evidence” that Mills is turning children into transgender people behind their parents' backs.
The NRSC's webpage for the ad links to an article about Mills' support for transgender girls competing in women's sports, and how older teens in Maine can receive gender-affirming care without parental permission in limited circumstances. It attempts to provide a link to reality, including an article about Mills and a link to another NRCS webpage that says Mills' sister works in the health care industry, perhaps “evidence” that Mills personally benefits from gender-affirming care.
The use of fake videos in political ads is not illegal in the United States, and the president has made it more difficult for states to regulate their use. Some platforms, such as YouTube, where NRSC ads are running require the use of AI-generated videos to be made public. There is nothing on YouTube that says NRSC ads are the product of generated AI.
“Lying has been a part of politics since time immemorial,” Robert Wiseman, co-chair of Public Citizen, said in an interview. guardian last month. “This is different from lying, and it's also different from saying you said something the other person didn't say.”
“When you're shown an obviously authentic version of someone saying something, it's very difficult for that person to counter that and say, 'I didn't say that,' because you're asking people not to believe what they see with their own eyes,” Wiseman added.
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