The creator of the viral artificial intelligence-generated video showing US President Donald Trump’s vision of the Gaza Strip has spoken out, saying the bizarre clip was intended as political satire. Solo Avital, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker said he created the video while experimenting with AI tools in early February, and that its spread had “surprised the hell out” of him.
“We are storytellers, we’re not provocateurs, we sometimes do satire pieces such as this one was supposed to be. This is the duality of the satire: it depends what context you bring to it to make the punchline or the joke. Here there was no context and it was posted without our consent or knowledge,” Mr Avital told The Guardian.
Mr Avital, an Israeli-born US citizen said he decided to create “satire about this megalomaniac idea about putting statues [in Gaza]” to see what the AI tool could do. Afterwards, his business partner, Ariel Vromen, posted the video on Instagram before Mr Avital convinced him to take it down.
The video posted by Mr Trump on his Truth Social account featured the idea of developing the Gaza Strip into a Dubai-style paradise. The video also featured billionaire Elon Musk dancing on a beach under a shower of US dollars and enjoying his meals.
A huge building with a ‘Trump Gaza’ board in the middle of the city appeared to indicate who the boss of the region was. The clip ended with the camera panning on Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sipping drinks on a beach.
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Hamas reacts
Even Hamas criticised Mr Trump for posting the AI video, stating that the US president’s proposed idea of Gaza does not align with the cultures and interests of Palestinians living in the enclave.
“Unfortunately, Trump is once again proposing ideas that do not take into account the cultures and interests of the people,’ Basem Naim, spokesperson and Hamas Political Bureau member told Newsweek.
“The people of Gaza are looking forward to the day when they see Gaza rebuilt, economically revived and building a better future for its children, but this cannot succeed inside the big prison. We are not struggling to improve prison conditions, but to get rid of the prison and the jailer,” Mr Naim added.
The US president has proposed a development plan for Gaza which involves expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from the region and transforming it into a “Riviera” that would be owned by the United States.
