DeSantis attack ad uses fake AI images of Trump embracing Fauci

The campaign backing Ron DeSantis as Republican presidential nominee in 2024 has used what experts identify as AI-generated deepfakes in attack ad against rival Donald Trump.

On June 5th, the “DeSantis War Room” Twitter account shared a video emphasizing Trump’s support for Anthony Fauci, a former White House chief medical advisor and key figure in developing the US response to COVID-19. Fauci has become a hated figure in right-wing politics, particularly among the anti-vax movement, and the attack ad seeks to grow this base of support for DeSantis by portraying Trump and Fauci as close collaborators.

The video includes real clips of Trump discussing Fauci and a collage of six pictures of the two men together. Of the six images, three appear to be AI-generated, showing Trump embracing Fauci. In the collage below they are top-left, bottom-middle, and bottom-right.

The fakes were first identified by AFP, who note that the real images in the collage above can be seen here, here, and here. The three fake images show no results in reverse image searches and have a number of tells that suggest they are AI-generated.

These tells include glossy and blurred textures (particularly in the hair and flesh of the two men), physically unrealistic poses (particularly in the top-left image), and an inaccurate reproduction of the White House press briefing room and its decorations.

For example, in the top-left image, you can see a recreation of the sign that appears behind the press briefing podium and that, in real life, says “The White House, Washington.” You can see this sign in this picture from March 27th from Getty Images:

Compare this to the sign that appears in the top-left image from the DeSantis ad. The shade of blue is different and the text is nonsense. (Recreating legible text is a challenge for current AI image generation systems.) Look at the image more closely and you can also see how Trump and Fauci’s faces are unrealistically posed, almost overlapping one another, and how Trump’s hair is oddly smooth and featureless:

Hany Farid, an expert in image forensics and professor at the University of California, told the AFP that it was “highly likely” that the images were fake, particularly as they could not be found in reverse image searches.

Digital media forensics expert Siwei Lyu came to the same conclusion, noting abnormalities in the three images. “I am pretty sure these are not real photos,” Lyu told the AFP.

The “De Santis War Room” Twitter account was launched last August by DeSantis’ political aide Christina Pushaw, and its use of AI shows the increasing normalization of deepfakes in US politics. Earlier this year, Donald Trump shared an AI-created image of him praying as well as an audio deepfake mocking DeSantis’ campaign launch on Twitter. After Joe Biden announced he would be running for re-election in 2024, the RNC published an attack ad that also featured AI-generated imagery.

Although some of these cases are obvious fakes (e.g. Trump’s audio deepfake, which features the Devil and Adolf Hitler), campaigns continue to blur the line between parody and disinformation. With this latest example, the mixture of fake and real images in a single collage further makes the distinction even harder. It takes what is a plausible narrative — of Trump and Fauci as friendly collaborators — and encourages viewers already inclined to believe this framing to see it is a well-evidenced truth. Deepfakes are helping politicians create their own reality.