‘What if weakest US President is re-elected’, AI ad fuels fake news concerns

2024 US elections may witness a new battleground with artificial intelligence (AI) playing a key role in political advertising.

Published on: Apr 26, 2023, 22:56:35 IST

By Vertika Kanaujia

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Will 2024 US elections get fought on artificial intelligence battleground? After President Joe Biden announced his intent to run for the Presidential race the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched its first attack against the Democratic Party leader with an AI powered ad. Unprecedented in the US electoral history the ad titled “What if the weakest president we’ve ever had were re-elected?” imagined a dystopian world caused by Biden at the helm of affairs for the second.

After President Joe Biden announced his intent to run for the Presidential race the Republican National Committee (RNC) launched its first attack against the Democratic Party leader with an AI powered ad.

The 30-seconds video created using generative AI tool creates images and videos looking similar to those of webseries Last of Us. It starts with images of Biden and Kamala Harris taking oath followed by voice-over indicating that after weakest US President US was re-elected an emboldened China attacked Taiwan, Financial institutions crumbled, insurgents attacked attacked the borders and army was forced to takeover American streets as the city had supposedly been overtaken by crime and fentanyl.

RNC has confirmed to Axios that it's their first AI generative video. Although the video comes with a faint disclaimer in the top-left corner noting that the ad was "built entirely with AI imagery," there's a dead giveaway that it's not a real photo of Biden and Harris — both of the smiling.

The video that's based on manipulation, propaganda and false narrative setting has triggered a major controversy and set the alarm bell ringing on how AI will only fuel an election battle full deep fakes. Recent developments in AI confirm that fake photos and deep fake videos by superimposing fabricated audio over an images will make it very difficult for

After fake images of Trump's arrest went viral AI generated video of Biden, Trump slinging insults at each other while they play a video game made the rounds on TikTok and Instagram.

AI earlier was a niche tool which required experienced hands, however, after the invent of ChatGPT has become an easy to spread fake news and manipulate the voter mindset.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vertika Kanaujia
Vertika Kanaujia is Editor Audience Growth at Hindustan Times and oversees the website’s coverage of business news, health, technology and internet culture. She is a Chevening Scholar and a Columbia Journalism University Fellow. Vertika has been a journalist for more than 18 years. After starting her career as a business journalist in TV she has worked with various leading news channels. You can email her at vertika.kanaujia@htdigital.in.Read More

Get the latest World News, breaking headlines and global updates from the US, UK, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia and other countries. Follow major international events on Hindustan Times.