AI-generated videos showing NYPD officers confronting federal immigration authorities have been circulating on social media for weeks, confusing some people who assumed that they were real.
The videos showing AI-generated depictions of NYPD officers arresting, berating and confronting purported ICE officers have been gaining views on several platforms as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has drawn widespread attention and scrutiny. They are not labeled as AI-generated, but experts said they bear the telltale signs, such as garbled text.
The videos are being circulated at a time when there is an intense focus on actual video evidence and federal immigration enforcement, according to Lindsay Gorman, who served as a senior adviser on emerging technology to President Joe Biden.
Experts who spoke to Gothamist said the proliferation of the videos is concerning because they could lead to a distrust of actual media and verified video evidence. At the same time, the high demand for information creates a situation where propaganda can flourish.
“This is the precise wrong moment to introduce AI-generated content into what is already a very, very complicated information landscape,” Gorman said.
The NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment. There have been no reports of the NYPD arresting immigration agents and the NYPD does not participate in civil immigration enforcement.
The videos
A number of the videos have circulated online for months and are easily identifiable as AI-generated because of details such as illegible writing on a New York City subway sign, Gorman said.
An Instagram post that experts say uses AI to depict a clash between the NYPD and ICE.
Instagram user @mannylf2020
In that video, several people in uniforms that say “NYPD” on them arrest a man dressed in an “ICE” uniform on a busy subway platform. A crowd of angry commuters cheer the officer on as they make the arrest, the video shows.
In another video that experts say is AI-generated, NYPD officers arrest a man dressed in military-style fatigues with the word “ICE” written on it in what appears to be Times Square. As he’s arrested, the man shouts, “We are above the law!”
An Instagram post that experts say uses AI to depict a clash between the NYPD and ICE.
Instagram user @mikewaynedotcom
Secondary effects
Social media users who come across videos like these could very well recognize them as AI-generated and untrustworthy, said Dr. Scott Brennen, the Director of NYU’s Center on Technology Policy.
But the volume of AI-generated social video could have the secondary effect of sowing distrust in all sorts of legitimate media and video evidence, such as an actual video of federal agents killing a protester, he added.
“We’re at this time when we’re seeing all these real videos showing horrendous things. When you’re increasingly in this environment where a lot of what you see is AI-generated, it becomes much easier to discount real content,” Brennen said.
At the same time, a lack of trustworthy information about U.S. law enforcement, coupled with a high demand for it, creates a “perfect storm” for propaganda to take hold, Gorman said.
“People want to know what’s happening, want to know what is going on, want to understand the interactions among law enforcement at the local level and the federal level,” she said.
It’s not clear who is creating the videos, but they could have a range of motives, Gorman added. At one extreme, they could be a form of artistic expression depicting the creator’s anti-ICE views. At the other, they could be designed to manipulate information and inflame political divisions.
She noted that Trump has shared AI-generated images on a host of issues, including the U.S. position in Greenland.
“This is becoming a tool that both sides of the political spectrum are using,” she said. “This is only increasing.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
