Senate Republicans Release AI-Generated Deepfake in Attack Ad Targeting Chuck Schumer
Senate Republicans yesterday released a 30-second attack ad featuring an AI-generated version of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, raising concerns about the increasing use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns.
The video, posted on X and YouTube by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), depicts a digitally created Schumer repeatedly stating, “Every day gets better for us,” while smiling. The ad concludes with the AI Schumer smiling as a narrator claims, “The Schumer shutdown is making things worse across America and Democrats love it.” The phrase originated from an October 9th interview with Punchbowl News, where Schumer explained his party’s strategy regarding a potential government shutdown. The NRSC describes the video as “visualizing” Schumer’s comment and includes an “AI GENERATED” watermark, as well as an “Altered or synthetic content” label on YouTube.
NRSC Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez defended the ad, stating, “These are Chuck Schumer’s own words. We know Schumer wishes people didn’t know he said this, but he did, and this video is a way for voters to see and hear how proud he is of his shutdown.” Experts, however, have criticized the tactic. Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley specializing in manipulated media, argued that creating a deepfake goes beyond simply quoting Schumer and could erode public trust in authentic video content. The use of AI in this manner represents a significant escalation in political advertising techniques, potentially paving the way for widespread disinformation campaigns.
This is not the first instance of Republicans employing AI in political messaging; former President Trump previously shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social fabricating statements by Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The NRSC maintains that AI is a necessary tool for modern campaigning, with Rodriguez stating, “AI is here and not going anywhere. Adapt & win or pearl clutch & lose.”
Schumer’s office has not yet responded to requests for comment, and it remains to be seen how this new tactic will influence future political discourse and campaign strategies.
The video posted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee shows an AI-generated version of Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer repeatedly saying “Every day gets better for us” and grinning.
@NRSC/Annotation by NPR
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@NRSC/Annotation by NPR
A new attack ad from Senate Republicans uses Sen. Chuck Schumer’s real words about the government shutdown — but in an AI deepfake of the Democratic Senate Minority Leader.
The 30-second video posted on X and YouTube by the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Friday raised alarms among many observers who warned it crossed a new boundary in politics and could unleash a flood of AI-generated deepfake attack ads.
Captioned on X “Week 3 of the Schumer Shutdown: ‘Every day gets better for us’,” the video shows an AI-generated version of Schumer repeatedly saying those words and grinning. The video concludes with Schumer smiling as a narrator says, “The Schumer shutdown is making things worse across America and Democrats love it.”
“Every day gets better for us” was part of a quote Schumer gave to the politics site Punchbowl News in an Oct. 9 article about the shutdown. He continued: “It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30 and we prepared for it … Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two.”
However, the original story only included the text of Schumer’s statement, not video or audio.
An NRSC press release announcing the ad describes it as “visualizing” Schumer’s comment and says it was “created in-part using artificial intelligence software and includes an AI disclaimer.”
The fake footage of Schumer includes a small transparent watermark of the NRSC logo and the words “AI GENERATED” in the bottom right-hand corner. On YouTube, the video carries an additional “Altered or synthetic content” label saying “Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.”
“These are Chuck Schumer’s own words,” NRSC Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez said in an email to NPR. “We know Schumer wishes people didn’t know he said this, but he did, and this video is a way for voters to see and hear how proud he is of his shutdown.”
Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Even though the quote was something Schumer did in fact say, the use of AI to invent fake video footage crosses a line, said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who studies manipulated media.
“If they wanted to use the quote then they could have shown an image of Schumer and overlaid the quote, as is often done. It cannot reasonably be argued that creating a deepfake of Senator Schumer is the same thing,” he said.
In addition, Farid said that the disclaimer on the lower right corner of the video “is not a particularly clear or obvious disclosure, particularly when most users are doom scrolling through their social media posts.”
The NRSC video was also criticized by journalists and other commenters on social media, including reporters at right-leaning publications.
“The Schumer bit is AI generated video — which is disclosed at bottom right corner — but we are at the doorstep of a terrifying new world,” Jon Levine, a political reporter at the Washington Free Beacon, wrote on X.
“NRSC has increasingly leaned into AI for its ads, but this is the first time I’ve seen them go so far as to use it for a fake video of an opponent. This is a slippery slope, even w/the tiny AI disclosure in the corner,” Ramsey Touchberry, a congressional reporter at the Washington Examiner, posted on X.
Amid the criticism, the NRSC’s Rodriguez wrote on her own X account: “AI is here and not going anywhere. Adapt & win or pearl clutch & lose.”
It’s not the first time Republicans have used AI to impersonate Schumer and other Democrats. On the eve of the shutdown, President Trump posted on Truth Social an apparently AI-generated, profanity-laced video fabricating Schumer saying “nobody likes Democrats anymore.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is also shown in the video wearing a cartoonish sombrero and mustache.
But unlike the NRSC’s video of Schumer, earlier examples were easy to spot as inauthentic.
Farid warned that the growing prevalence of AI fakes in politics could have a corrosive effect.
“While I don’t think our leaders should be posting deceptive deepfakes, they also run the risk that when they post real content, there will be good reason for the public to question its authenticity,” he said.
