A promotional video posted by Kash Patel has drawn attention after appearing to include AI-generated visuals closely resembling scenes from a well-known music video by Beastie Boys.
On May 4, Kash Patel took to his X/Twitter to share the 2-minute clip that features efforts by the Bureau in addressing large-scale fraud cases.
It also shows an instrumental version of the 1994 track Sabotage, alongside a mix of law enforcement footage and stylized action clips.
In his caption, Kash Patel wrote:
“With President Trump’s leadership, this @FBI and our interagency partners are conducting massive fraud takedowns coast to coast – and we’re not stopping.”
However, upon closer look, viewers and analysts noted strong visual similarities between several segments and the original Sabotage music video, which was helmed by Spike Jonze.
Was Kash Patel’s promotional video AI?
According to NPR, multiple scenes appear to replicate framing, movement, and composition from the 1990s production.
In a number of scenes, there were inconsistencies in Kash Patel’s promo video, including the lack of environmental detail and strange backgrounds. Reviewers who studied the footage found that the inconsistencies were very much in line with those seen in AI-generated videos.
One example cited involved a car sequence with altered window details compared to the original footage. Another showed rooftop movement with background elements aligned closely to the earlier video, but with distortions in spatial accuracy.
Kolina Koltai, senior researcher at the independent investigative and fact-checking group Bellingcat, told NPR:
“It does seem like it would be highly likely to be AI. You can even see some of the AI errors.”
University of California professor Hany Farid added that the visuals were likely from screen-captured images or short videos from the original Beastie Boys video. The material possibly was fed into an image-to-video generator, Farid added in his email.
“The similarities are hard to explain otherwise.”
The FBI has not released additional information on how the video was produced, and no public comment has been provided by representatives connected to the original music video.
The promotional clip also remains on Kash Patel’s account as of writing.
Barack Obama responds to Donald Trump’s racist AI video
Donald Trump’s administration isn’t new to getting involved in an artificial intelligence fiasco.
Last February, the POTUS took to his Truth Social account and posted an AI-generated video of former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle as dancing primates.
The video was also promoting conspiracy theories about debunked claims of 2020 U.S. election tampering, while the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight played in the background.
Instantly, the video garnered massive public outrage. The post was then taken down several days later.
Trump never offered an apology for the misstep.
Weeks later, Barack Obama responded to the racist video. Speaking on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, the former president said:
“It’s important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling. It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction.”
In his May 4 interview with The New Yorker, Obama once again spoke out regarding the incident.
“I don’t take it personally. I mean, I’m always offended when my wife and kids get dragged into things, because they didn’t choose this.”
He continued:
“That’s a line that even people whose politics I deeply reject, I would expect them to care about. I would never talk about somebody’s family in that way.”
Edited by Gladys Altamarino