EDMO Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien appeared on RTÉ Six One News yesterday to discuss the latest and most sophisticated example of AI-generated election disinformation to circulate during the presidential campaign.
The video, which appeared late Tuesday night after the RTÉ Prime Time election debate, mimicked the format of RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock News. It purported to show presenter Sharon Ní Bheoláin announcing that presidential candidate Catherine Connolly had withdrawn from the race, followed by AI-generated footage of Connolly herself appearing to confirm the false announcement. The fabricated broadcast then cut to fake clips of RTÉ Political Correspondent Paul Cunningham, who appeared to claim that the election had been cancelled and that Heather Humphreys would become president by default.
The video originated from a Facebook account called “RTÉ News AI”. The video has been removed by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Aidan O’Brien noted that this particular deepfake was notably more sophisticated in its attention to detail than other examples he has seen.
The emergence of the fake broadcast follows a wider wave of AI-generated political disinformation circulating throughout the election period, as reported by TheJournal FactCheck and other outlets. False and misleading content has appeared across multiple platforms.
Following the election, EDMO Ireland will publish a comprehensive report assessing how major online platforms have addressed systemic risks during the campaign, including their commitments to label AI-generated content, reduce the visibility of deceptive material, and ensure transparency in political communication.
