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A pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, produced a political attack ad using an AI-generated voice of Donald Trump. The ad, which was scheduled to run statewide in Iowa, used audio based on a social media post to criticize the former president. This incident highlights the growing use of synthetic media in political campaigns and the potential for deception in advertising.
A pro-Ron DeSantis super PAC released an ad featuring an AI-generated voice of Donald Trump. The ad, created by Never Back Down, aimed to criticize Trump’s treatment of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. The AI-generated voice was confirmed to be based on Trump's post from his social media. This incident is an example of potential deception in political advertising through AI-generated content.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to conduct large-scale disinformation campaigns, malicious surveillance, or targeted and sophisticated automated censorship and propaganda, with the aim of manipulating political processes, public opinion, and behavior.
Also classified as
The AI tool was used to generate a fabricated voice recording of Donald Trump, creating false and misleading audio content.
The incident involved using an AI voice clone to conduct a large-scale political campaign ad aimed at manipulating public opinion and the political process.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The incident was caused by humans (the super PAC) intentionally using a deployed AI voice generation tool to create a deceptive political ad.
Added categories peak at 3: Substantial (Epistemic Harm, Inferred)
A domestic political action committee used an AI-generated voice clone of Donald Trump in a high-profile, statewide television advertisement in Iowa. While the incident did not involve foreign interference or critical infrastructure compromise, it represents a significant evolution in the scale and deployment of synthetic media to influence democratic processes and political campaigns.
The AI system was used as a tool to perform a specific, well-defined function of generating a synthetic voice clone of Donald Trump based on text inputs.
Limited Risk: The incident involves AI-generated content (a deepfake voice clone), which falls under the category of systems requiring transparency obligations so users know the content is synthetic.
The AI system was used to generate a synthetic clone of Donald Trump's voice based on his written social media post.
The report clearly describes the event, the parties involved, the medium (TV ad), and the fact that the voice was AI-generated. There is little ambiguity about what transpired, though the specific AI tool used is not named.
None. The super PAC confirmed the voice was AI-generated.
While the specific AI model name is missing, it is not strictly necessary to classify the incident's domain, causal factors, or harms.
Technology
AI Voice Generation Technology
Generative AI allowed synthetic replication of Trump's voice.
Unnatural Audio Synthesis
The AI voice did not sound completely natural but was highly realistic.
Data Inputs
Social Media Post Text
Trump's actual Truth Social post was used as the input text for voice model.
Human Factors
Intent to Deceive Voters
Campaign staff intentionally used synthetic voice to influence voters.
Process and Methods
Outsourcing Work to AI
Super PAC adopted AI tools to generate ad content quickly and cheaply.
Lack of Pre-broadcast Verification
No internal checks prevented the broadcast of synthetic voice ads.
Management
Prioritizing Impact over Ethics
PAC management authorized a controversial AI ad to gain campaign traction.
Aggressive Campaign Spending
Management funded a 1 million dollar ad buy to maximize deepfake outreach.
Regulatory Environment
Absence of Political AI Regulations
No legal frameworks prohibited using deepfakes in campaign advertisements.
AI system involved
An AI system was involved, but the reports do not identify it.
Identified by automated extraction; can differ from the alleged developers above.
