The leader of the free world basks on a sun lounger in his swimming shorts, sipping a beer next to the prime minister of Israel. Elon Musk dances on the beach, throwing banknotes into the air. A child carries a gold balloon bearing the likeness of Donald Trump, as a giant golden statue of the president towers over passers-by.
This fever dream of an American-occupied Gaza was brought to life in an AI-generated video that lit up on social media after Mr Trump shared it on February 26th. The 30-second clip, whose creator remains unknown, is slick in its production, outlandish in its content and hugely successful in its reach. Tens of thousands of people have “liked” Mr Trump’s post—and at least as many have hated it.
Much is made of AI’s potential to spread misinformation. The “Trump Gaza” video exemplifies a different use of the technology. Knowingly absurd, it is a high-fidelity provocation perfectly suited to tickle Mr Trump’s fans and bait his critics. No one is being fooled by the video, but it seems everyone is talking about it.
More communication of this kind can be expected for two reasons. One is technical. Until recently making a video like this would have required a team of professional animators. Today any amateur can have a go. Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, was made available to Americans in December and launched in Europe on February 28th.
The democratisation of the technology was demonstrated by the speed of the response to the Trump video. Within 48 hours Palestinian activists had hit back with a professional-looking AI video of their own, “Gaza is Ours”, showing Mr Trump sobbing in prison as Gazans celebrated, backed by an AI-made rock song.
The second reason such clips will spread is political. Mr Trump and his allies delight in saying the unsayable and posting the unpostable, using humour for cover. Outrageous statements—in this case about Gaza’s future as an American-run beach resort—are given plausible deniability by the jokiness of the medium, even as the underlying message is conveyed to supporters. Expect other politicians to push boundaries in their posts.
The left has traditionally led the way in mastering new media, aided by its generally younger, tech-savvy supporters. Barack Obama used Facebook to win the White House in 2008. Today America’s right is ahead. Mr Trump has cultivated a following among meme-sharing, crypto-trading techies, who are more gung-ho about AI than liberals, who fret about boring things like copyright and content “guardrails”. Britain’s leftish Labour Party released an AI video in January, only to be criticised by supporters for undermining the work of human creatives. Mr Trump’s antics may cause outrage. But if those on the left want to get even online, they too will have to seize the memes of production. ■
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