AI-generated clips of the Irish presidential candidate are just the latest example of social media playing an unwanted role in this election
Catherine Connolly arrives to take part in the final debate of the Irish presidential election campaign at RTE. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
In the closing days of the presidential election, a series of deepfake AI videos sought to derail some Irish voters’ intentions. One account in particular saw its efforts go viral. RTÉ News AI, as the account styled itself, garnered 160,000 views over four days for a handful of anti-Catherine Connolly videos.
In one, a fake version of RTÉ new presenter Sharon Ní Bheoláin announced that Connolly was withdrawing from the contest followed by a clip of a deepfaked Connolly ‘announcing’ it to an audience. The clip then featured ‘analysis’ from a digitally mocked up version of RTÉ political news journalist Paul Cunningham.
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