DeSantis pushes AI-generated attack ad featuring fake Trump voice

Bizarre ad is likely first use of AI voice manipulation by a major presidential campaign

A new ad being unveiled by Florida Gov Ron DeSantis’s Never Back Down PAC features the AI-generated voice of Donald Trump — quite possibly the first use of such technology by a major presidential campaign.

The ad was first reported by Politico, and popped up on the Never Back Down PAC’s YouTube channel on Monday. It is aimed at Republican voters in Iowa and features a male announcer describing the very different treatment of the state’s GOP governor, Kim Reynolds, by Mr DeSantis and Mr Trump.

It then goes on to use an AI-generated Trump voice to animate the words of a statement the former president released on Truth Social attacking Ms Reynolds over media reports indicating that she was working to remain “neutral” in the state’s heated first-in-the-nation GOP caucus.

Such a position is unsurprising, given the popularity of the two GOP frontrunners, though Mr Trump’s own words may have hurt his case for her endorsement.

“I opened up the governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I endorsed her,” the robotic Trump voice dictates. “Now, she wants to remain neutral. I don’t invite her to events!”

Though the speech generated by AI mirrored Mr Trump’s own statement to the letter, it was nevertheless a bold example of how such technology could be use to simulate any text provided by a campaign operative to such a program.

An ad released by the Never Back Down PAC, affiliated with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, uses an AI-generated voice to mimic Donald Trump

The use of AI-generated voice in the ad was likely used in this case to make the former president’s statement presentable on an audio-only format for radio ad purposes.

Trump supporters on Twitter waffled between seething about the supposed dishonesty of using an AI-generated voice to simulate an actual statement made by the former president and mockery over what some said in response was an act of desperation by the DeSantis campaign.

Reports indicated that the Never Back Down PAC has spent around $700,000 on this ad specifically so far, not counting a $1m ad buy to actually get it on the air in Iowa.

Mr DeSantis’s campaign has sputtered in recent weeks and was reported over the weekend by NBC News to have axed a number of staffers as it reorganises and seeks to recapture momentum; the second-place candidate is trailing Mr Trump in most polling by double digits, while some of his other fellow contenders are gaining ground rather than losing it.

“The blatant use of AI to fabricate President Trump’s voice is a desperate attempt by Always Back Down and Jeff Roe to deceive the American public because they know DeSanctimonious’ campaign is on life support,” a Trump campaign spokesman, Chris LaCivita, told Politico about the ad. “After losing big donors and slashing their staff, they have now outsourced their work to AI just like they would like to outsource American jobs to China.”