A pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC uses an Artificial Intelligence version of Donald Trump’s voice in a new television ad attacking the former president.
The ad, from Never Back Down, charges Trump with attacking Iowa governor Kim Reynolds as part of a larger pattern of disrespect he has shown to the first caucus state.
But the audio that the spot uses is not actually from Trump. A person familiar with the ad confirmed Trump’s voice was AI generated. Its content appears to be based off of a post that Trump made on his social media site Truth Social last week. The person said it will run statewide in Iowa tomorrow and that the ad buy was at least $1 million — a massive sum though one doable for the well-heeled super PAC. It will also be running via text message and on digital platforms.
Outside of explicit and clearly labeled parody and satire, I’m starting to settle pretty securely on the idea that it should be illegal to use someone’s likeness in a convincing manner without their permission.
There are absolutely a huge number of idiots who would take up arms over a drepfake of Biden announcing some kind of crackdown on Trump supporters or some idiotic bullshit like that.