Deepfake Barack Obama calls Donald Trump "a total and complete dipshit"
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Occurred: April 2018
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A deepfake video apparently showing former US President Barack Obama insult Donald Trump and several of his appointees caused confusion among viewers and highlighted AI's potential to erode public trust in digital media and enable political sabotage.
What happened
What happened
The fabricated clip showed a seemingly authentic Obama delivering uncharacteristically inflammatory remarks, including references to the film Black Panther and direct insults toward Trump.
While the video’s creators filmmaker Jordan Peele and BuzzFeed explicitly framed it as a warning about disinformation risks, its realistic execution caused initial confusion among viewers.
Why it happened
Why it happened
Peele’s project aimed to preemptively expose how deepfakes could be weaponised, particularly in political contexts.
The video emerged amid growing concerns about AI tools being used for nonconsensual pornography (96 percent of early deepfakes targeted women) and electoral interference.
Experts noted that while this specific deepfake used “primitive” techniques by modern standards, it foreshadowed more sophisticated manipulations requiring less source material.
What it means
What it means
The incident underscored vulnerabilities in media literacy and the risks of AI-driven disinformation campaigns. For society, it signaled a paradigm shift where “seeing is no longer believing,” complicating efforts to discern truth in digital content.
Politically, such technology could enable fabricated scandals to influence elections or incite unrest, as seen in Gabon where a disputed video contributed to a coup attempt.
While the Obama deepfake itself seemed to cause no direct harm, it exemplified how synthetic media could destabilise democratic processes and individual reputations.
Deepfake
Deepfakes (a portmanteau of 'deep learning' and 'fake'[1]) are images, videos, or audio that have been edited or generated using artificial intelligence, AI-based tools or AV editing software.
Source: Wikipedia 🔗
System 🤖
System 🤖
FakeApp
Operator:
Developer:
Country: USA
Sector: Politics
Purpose: Educate geheral public
Technology: Deepfake; Machine learning
Issue: Mis/disinformation
News, commentary, analysis 🗞️
News, commentary, analysis 🗞️
https://www.businessinsider.com/obama-deepfake-video-insulting-trump-2018-4
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/383525-obama-voiced-by-jordan-peele-in-psa-video-warning-about-fake
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/18/17252410/jordan-peele-obama-deepfake-buzzfeed
https://www.bustle.com/p/video-of-jordan-peeles-obama-psa-about-fake-news-has-a-message-you-didnt-seeing-coming-8820426
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/jordan-peele-obama-fake-news-video-buzzfeed-1202755517/#!
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/4/17/17247334/ai-fake-news-video-barack-obama-jordan-peele-buzzfeed
https://mashable.com/2018/04/17/jordan-peele-fake-obama-psa/?europe=true
https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2018/04/19/the-looming-cloud-deepfakes-and-silver-lining/hnXu42V4Tg9aJ2Rv5Sq8GO/story.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/07/deepfake-ai-trump-impersonator-highlights-election-fake-news-threat.html
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Type: Issue
Published: April 2025
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