"A new attack ad from Senate Republicans uses Sen. Chuck Schumer's real words about the government shutdown but in an AI deepfake of the Democratic Senate Minority Leader. The 30-second video posted on X and YouTube by the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Friday raised alarms among many observers who warned it crossed a new boundary in politics and could unleash a flood of AI-generated deepfake attack ads."
"'Every day gets better for us' was part of a quote Schumer gave to the politics site Punchbowl News in an Oct. 9 article about the shutdown. He continued: 'It's because we've thought about this long in advance and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30 and we prepared for it Their whole theory was threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.'"
"An NRSC press release announcing the ad describes it as "visualizing" Schumer's comment and says it was "created in-part using artificial intelligence software and includes an AI disclaimer." The fake footage of Schumer includes a small transparent watermark of the NRSC logo and the words "AI GENERATED" in the bottom right-hand corner. YouTube put its own "Altered or synthetic content" label on the video saying "Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.""
A 30-second AI-generated video posted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee portrays Sen. Chuck Schumer saying 'Every day gets better for us' while grinning. The quoted line originated in a Punchbowl News Oct. 9 text article and had no original audio or video, but the NRSC created synthetic footage and included an AI disclaimer and a small NRSC watermark reading 'AI GENERATED.' YouTube labeled the clip as altered or synthetic content. Observers warned the ad crosses a new boundary in political advertising and could spur a flood of AI-generated deepfake attack ads. Schumer's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]