The US Government Is Making AI Videos for Public Communications. Here's Why That Should Worry You.

February 2, 2026

The Department of Homeland Security is now using AI video generators from Google and Adobe to produce content that gets shared with the public. Immigration agencies have flooded social media with AI-generated material supporting policy positions. The White House posted a digitally altered photo of a woman arrested at an ICE protest.

This is not a hypothetical scenario from a tech policy paper. This is happening right now, with taxpayer-funded tools, aimed at the American public.

And the systems that were supposed to protect us from exactly this kind of thing? They are not working.

The promise that broke

A few years ago, the tech industry rallied around something called the Content Authenticity Initiative, or CAI. The idea was straightforward: embed metadata into images and videos at the moment of creation, so anyone could verify whether a piece of media was real, AI-generated, or altered.

Adobe, Google, Microsoft, and others signed on. It sounded like the responsible path forward. Build the tools, label the content, let people make informed decisions.

The problem is that the whole system is opt-in. Creators can choose not to use it. Platforms can strip the labels. And even when the metadata is present, most people never see it because the apps they use do not surface it.

So we built a seatbelt that only works if the driver feels like wearing it.

The deeper problem: influence survives exposure

Here is the part that should really get your attention. New research shows that people remain emotionally swayed by deepfakes even after being told the content is fake.

Read that again. Even when someone knows a video is AI-generated, the emotional impact sticks. The researchers describe this as 'influence survives exposure.' Your brain processes the emotional content faster than the rational label that says 'this is not real.'

This means the traditional defense against misinformation -- fact-checking and labeling -- has a fundamental limitation. You cannot simply debunk your way out of a deepfake. The damage is done the moment someone watches it.

For anyone who communicates with the public, whether you are a government agency or a local business, this research should change how you think about content authenticity.

What this means for small businesses

You might be thinking: this is a government and big tech problem. Why should I care?

Because trust is the foundation of every small business relationship, and the ground underneath it is shifting.

Your customers are getting more skeptical

When people see that even government agencies use AI to generate public communications, it raises the baseline level of suspicion for all media. That includes your marketing videos, your product photos, your testimonials, and your social media presence.

A customer who just watched a news segment about AI-generated government propaganda is going to look at your latest Instagram reel differently. They may not consciously think about it, but the seed of doubt is planted. Is this real? Is this company real? Can I trust what I am seeing?

Authenticity becomes a competitive advantage

Here is the flip side. In a world drowning in synthetic content, being genuinely authentic becomes more valuable, not less. Small businesses have a natural advantage here that big corporations and government agencies do not: you can show real people, real work, and real results.

The businesses that will win trust in this environment are the ones that lean into transparency rather than running from it. That means:

Show the process, not just the polish. Behind-the-scenes content of your actual team doing actual work is worth more than a perfectly rendered AI video. A shaky phone video of your team celebrating a milestone is more trustworthy than a studio-quality production.

Be upfront about AI use. If you use AI tools in your workflow (and you probably should), say so. 'We use AI to help draft our blog posts, but every piece is reviewed and edited by our team.' That kind of honesty builds trust. Hiding it erodes it.

Invest in provenance. If you create original photos or videos, look into content credentials. Yes, the CAI tools are imperfect. But being one of the businesses that voluntarily tags its content as authentic puts you ahead of the curve. When platforms eventually do start surfacing these labels (and they will, because the regulatory pressure is building), you will already be there.

Do not use AI-generated media dishonestly

This should go without saying, but the temptation is real. AI video generators are cheap and fast. You could create a testimonial video with a synthetic spokesperson. You could generate product photos that show features you have not built yet. You could fabricate social proof.

Do not do it. The short-term gain is not worth the long-term risk. When (not if) customers discover that a business used AI to deceive them, the backlash is severe. And in an environment where people are already primed to distrust synthetic media, getting caught is increasingly likely.

What to actually do

1. Audit your content pipeline. Look at every piece of media your business puts out. Know which pieces are original, which use AI assistance, and which are fully generated. You cannot manage what you do not measure.

2. Create a content authenticity policy. It does not need to be complicated. Something like: 'We use original photography for products. We use AI assistance for blog drafts with human editing. We do not use AI-generated people in our marketing.' Write it down. Share it with your team. Put it on your website if you want extra credit.

3. Build a library of authentic assets. Start stockpiling real photos, real videos, and real customer stories. These will become increasingly valuable as synthetic content floods the market. A genuine customer testimonial on video is going to be worth its weight in gold.

4. Watch the regulatory landscape. The EU AI Act already requires labeling of AI-generated content. The US is likely to follow with some form of disclosure requirement. Getting ahead of this now means you will not be scrambling to comply later.

The bigger picture

We are entering an era where the question is not 'can we detect AI content?' but 'does detection even matter if the emotional impact persists?'

The government using AI video generators for public communications is a symptom, not the disease. The disease is a media environment where the tools to create convincing synthetic content have outpaced the tools to verify it, and where human psychology makes us vulnerable even when verification succeeds.

For small businesses, the response is not to panic or to swear off AI tools entirely. The response is to make authenticity a deliberate, visible part of how you operate. In a world where anyone can fake anything, being real is your strongest competitive advantage.

Use it.