--- title: "Donald Trump Is Just Calling Any Video He Doesn’t Like “AI” Now" description: "Former president Donald Trump took to Truth Social to dismiss unflattering — and real — videos of himself as AI-generated fakes." date: "2024-03-14" modified: "2024-03-14" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/donald-trump-video-ai" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "misinformation" - "politics" - "the digest" - "trump" --- # Donald Trump Is Just Calling Any Video He Doesn’t Like “AI” Now ![Former president Donald Trump took to Truth Social to dismiss unflattering — and real — videos of himself as AI-generated fakes.]() *\Image: Chip Somodevilla via Getty / Futurism\* ## He Said, Machine Said Usually, when discussing the risks that generative AI tools pose to the 2024 election, it's in the context of AI being used to create items of disinformation: stuff like doctored images, fake news sites and deepfaked audio clips, designed to spin false narratives or further existing ones. Of course, these risks are [very real]() — but using generative AI to *create* content is far from the tech's only threat. Case in point: former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump yesterday took to Truth Social, the social media app that he started, to denounce compilations of real videos of himself that he doesn't like as AI-generated fakes. [Per *Gizmodo*](), the video mashups in question comprised 32 different clips of the former president and were shown during yesterday's [congressional grilling of Robert Hur](), the special counsel appointed to investigate President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents. In his final report, handed down last month, Hur described the current president as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." This description royally pissed off the White House and its allies, and the deeply unflattering video compilations of Trump — who's currently [facing criminal charges]() for his own alleged mishandlings of [large amounts of classified documents]() — were presented by congressional Democrats during the Hur hearing as a means of underscoring the former president's many recent and strange slip-ups. "The Hur Report was revealed today!" Trump [declared]() on his social media platform in response to the clip. "Artificial Intelligence was used by them against me in their videos of me. Can't do that Joe!" Except AI *wasn't* used to fabricate these clips. Each unflattering video — Trump [claiming]() that whales are being murdered by windmills, mumbling incoherently, [confusing]() Biden with former president Barack Obama, and so on — is genuine. Rather than confronting the videos, Trump is using the existence and availability of generative AI to falsely dismiss them as fake. https://twitter.com/HouseJudiciary/status/1767559846922949096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1767559846922949096%7Ctwgr%5Eb110baf2c780c0aa80e06c0bbcc3b9af960d0dcf%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fpolitics%2F2024%2F03%2F13%2Ftrump-video-ai-truth-social%2F ## Fracture Point It's bizarre and dystopian stuff. What's worse, Trump's AI-abetted tactic benefits from the bleak reality that AI *has* [already been used]() [during]() [this election cycle]() to create misinformation. Though this specific AI brush-off was quickly disproven, it may well be true that the more generative AI tools subvert our collective sense of reality, the more difficult it'll be to counter false "AI-did-it" claims of the kind. Or, conversely, it might get harder for officials to defend themselves against real AI misinformation. In short, very-much-unregulated generative AI tools have already started to cause [fractures]() in the foundation of reality — one that a former American president is seemingly ready to exploit. And like any fracture point, if you keep pressing on it, you risk a full break. **More on AI and the election:** [*MAGA Uses AI to Invent Pictures of Trump With Black People*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()