FBI Director Kash Patel’s Promo Video Rips Off Beastie Boys Using AI, NPR Finds

FBI Director Kash Patel just dropped a promotional video touting the bureau’s crackdown on “massive fraud,” but instead of original footage, he leaned heavily on AI to rip off the Beastie Boys’ legendary 1994 “Sabotage” music video. NPR’s investigation found at least six clips in Patel’s roughly two-minute video that are near-identical recreations of scenes from Spike Jonze’s cult classic — complete with subtle AI-generated errors like misplaced telephone lines and inconsistent car grilles.

Patel posted the video on X, boasting about the FBI’s fraud takedowns under President Trump’s leadership. It quickly racked up half a million views, but independent experts and digital forensics pros told NPR the visuals were not just inspired by “Sabotage” — they were digitally cloned using AI models trained on the original footage.

One expert, Kolina Koltai from Bellingcat, pointed out classic AI artifacts such as a “No Fraud” license plate with misshapen letters and overlapping traffic lights. UC Berkeley professor Hany Farid explained the clips were likely generated by feeding screenshots or clips from the Beastie Boys video into an image-to-video AI model. The uncanny resemblance and AI flaws make any other explanation “hard to explain otherwise.”

This stunt fits a disturbing pattern from the Trump administration’s second term, which has repeatedly co-opted popular culture and weaponized AI to push propaganda. Last October, Trump himself posted an AI-manipulated video of violence at a protest set to Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone,” which Loggins demanded be taken down — but it remains online. Earlier in 2026, the White House posted AI-altered images of arrested protesters without disclosure.

Patel, a Long Island native who would have been a teenager when “Sabotage” dropped, has yet to respond to requests for comment, and neither have the Beastie Boys or Spike Jonze’s representatives.

This episode is more than a copyright stunt. It highlights how authoritarian figures like Patel weaponize emerging technology and cultural touchstones to manufacture legitimacy and distract from real abuses of power. AI’s misuse here underscores the urgent need for accountability as digital tools become propaganda weapons in the hands of those who should be upholding the law — not ripping off artists to sell a false narrative.