Pro-Bitcoin DeSantis tagged over AI-faked photos in Trump smear campaign

The images depicting Donald Trump cuddling up to and kissing Anthony Fauci were labeled as being AI-generated on Twitter’s disinformation alert feature.

Pro-Bitcoin (BTC) presidential bidder Ron DeSantis has been tagged for apparently using artificial intelligence-generated images in an ad campaign smearing rival and former president Donald Trump.

It comes amid a rise in AI-generated deep fakes being used in political ads and movements in recent months.

On June 5, DeSantis’ campaign tweeted a video purporting to show Trump’s close support of Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to Trump when he was president of the United States.

Fauci is a contentious figure in GOP circles for, among other reasons, his handling of the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic which many deemed to be heavy-handed.

Donald Trump became a household name by FIRING countless people *on television*

But when it came to Fauci… pic.twitter.com/7Lxwf75NQm

— DeSantis War Room (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 5, 2023

The video features a collage of real images depicting Trump and Fauci mixed in with what appears to be AI-generated images of the pair hugging with some depicting Trump appearing to kiss Fauci.

Twitter’s Community Notes feature — the platform’s community-driven misinformation-dispelling project — added a disclaimer to the tweet calling it „AI-generated images.“

AFP Fact Check, a department within the news agency Agence France-Presse said the images had „the hallmarks of AI-generated imagery.“

*A screenshot from the video, the top left, bottom middle and bottom right images are AI-generated. Source: Twitter*

DeSantis and Trump are facing off to take the Republican nominee for president. DeSantis kicked off his bid last month in a Twitter Space and promised to “protect” Bitcoin — current polling has him trailing Trump.

AI in the political sphere

Others in politics have used AI-generated media to attack rivals, even Trump’s campaign is guilty of using AI to smear DeSantis.

Shortly after DeSantis announced his presidential bid, Trump posted a video mocking DeSantis’ Twitter-based announcement, using deepfaked audio to create a fake Twitter Space featuring the likeness of DeSantis, Elon Musk, George Soros, Adolf Hitler, Satan, and Trump.

*A screenshot of the video posted by Trump depicting a Twitter Space. Source: Instagram*

In April, the Republican party released an ad with its predictions on what a second term for President Joe Biden would look like which was packed with AI-generated images that depicted a dystopian future.

New Zealand politics has also recently featured AI-made media with the country’s opposing National Party using generated images to attack the ruling Labour Party in multiple social posts in May.

*The National Party used AI to generate Polynesian hospital workers in a social media campaign. Source: Instagram*

One image depicts Polynesian hospital staff, another shows multiple masked men robbing a jewelry store and a third image depicts a woman in a house at night — all were generated using AI tools.

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