The political era of artificial intelligence deepfakes has arrived. Senate Republicans used artificial intelligence to generate a fake version of Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in an advertisement about the government shutdown.

It used a quote attributed to Schumer in print; He told Punchbowl News, “every day gets better for us.” There was no footage of Schumer saying it, but Republicans used AI to create a video of it.

There is a small tag in the corner of the video that says “AI generated,” but many criticized the post. A representative for the National Republican Senate Committee, however, defended the ad, saying “AI is here and not going anywhere.”

Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Ina Fried, chief technology correspondent at Axios.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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