Victoria's major parties clash over AI‑generated videos of leaders in election ads

On Halloween night a video posted by Victorian Labor’s social media showed an AI‑generated version of Liberal leader Jess Wilson warning voters about “Americanised healthcare”. The clip claimed a heart attack would cost $150,000, an ambulance $6,000 and a birth $40,000. Labour posted the video on Saturday.

The fabricated footage featured Wilson holding a bill with those figures and placed One Nation’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering beside her, wearing a Liberal party badge. The numbers were taken from remarks Wilson made after unveiling a $1.27bn scheme to fund private hospitals for public elective surgery, when she said “Not at all” to a question about “Americanising” the system. She had also said “This is happening in Queensland today. In fact, the Labor government has implemented it here in the past,” at the same press conference.

Premier Ben Carroll defended the content to ABC Radio Melbourne, stating “Jess Wilson herself has said there is nothing wrong with Americanising our health system. They’re her words. She has said that, and every Victorian should be terrified by that.” Wilson responded that the video was a “desperate smear campaign” and that “in no way, shape or form are we Americanising the healthcare system here in Victoria”.

The Liberal party dismissed the Labour video as “garbage” and urged voters to treat it as such. The party also released AI‑generated clips of Premier Carroll appearing to sleep at his desk, a move that followed a Herald Sun front‑page story on 24 October alleging the premier took naps on the job. A source inside Labour’s campaign headquarters, who requested anonymity, said the Liberals “threw the first brick” by producing that video.

The use of AI is not limited to the two major parties. Conservative lobby group Advance Australia last month issued an AI‑generated video that fabricated a Labor victory on election night, featuring former premiers Jacinta Allan and a North Face‑clad Daniel Andrews. One Nation also showed an AI video at its launch event that employed inflammatory stereotypes of various ethnic groups, prompting Greens and experts to call for a ban on such practices.

“Trust is already at all-time lows,” said Clancy Moore, chief executive of Transparency International Australia. He added, “So lies, deepfakes and AI‑generated politicians in election ads only further erode Victorian’s trust in politicians and our democracy.” Media researcher Timothy Koskie of the University of Sydney noted that misinformation in political messaging “predates AI pretty significantly”, but that deepfakes make “some subtle mischaracterisations that are easier to represent artificially”. He warned, “It’s not that we’re deceiving voters into believing something that’s not true.

It’s that we’re making more convincing an argument that actually doesn’t hold up,” and said, “It’s very difficult to stop it from happening. The public won’t reward people who refrain from using it.”

Moore is urging both the Victorian and federal governments to enact truth‑in‑political‑advertising legislation, similar to laws already in place in the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. Under South Australian law, creating AI‑generated deepfake electoral ads without the person’s permission is prohibited and can attract penalties of up to $5,000. The legislation also requires any AI‑derived advertisement to be clearly labelled, and permits the use of a watermark to inform voters.

To date, only the Advance Australia video has carried a disclaimer stating it is a “nightmare version of elec”. This highlights the lack of labeling in most other AI clips.