Ron DeSantis used footage from a political rally for an ad, like many candidates before him. But to make it a little more epic, he added digital fighter jets flying overhead.
And because the ad debuted less than 24 hours after Donald Trump used AI to create a video trolling DeSantis for his botched campaign announcement on Twitter, some people assumed the Florida governor used AI to add in the jets.
But that’s not the case, a person familiar with the matter told Decrypt. The ad used only normal video editing.
The one-minute ad, which dropped yesterday after DeSantis announced his candidacy, showcases the Governor speaking at a November event in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The twist? A squadron of fighter jets appears to fly overhead as DeSantis delivers his speech. However, video footage from the original event reveals that there were no jets present that day.
It makes sense that the campaign used digital editing tools to insert the fighter planes, rather than AI. When dealing with generative AI, videos tend to appear choppy because each frame is a distinct image generated individually, which is why they tend to lack the consistency achievable with professional AI editors like DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premier.
That said, AI has been used in political ads before. The Republican National Committee released a 30-second ad that did not feature any real images; all of them were created using AI. The ad painted a dark and scary version of the U.S. if President Joe Biden were reelected, showing images of China invading Taiwan, migrants attempting to cross the U.S. border, and soldiers lining the streets of a shut-down San Francisco.
However, the use of AI in political ads has raised concerns. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) recently introduced legislation requiring the disclosure of AI-generated content in political ads. Clarke believes that current laws are insufficient to protect the American public from the potential societal disruptions caused by the rapid deployment of AI.