Coordinated disinformation videos allegedly generated by artificial intelligence and attributed to Russia would hijack the identities of real people to defame Democratic Senate candidates in the crucial final stretch of the midterm vote.
These operations deployed fabricated allegations against candidates in two high-stakes races, using the names and photos of unsuspecting citizens to mislead voters before ballots were counted.
In Ohio, a misleading video stylized as a legitimate newscast targeted Sherrod Brown in his race against incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. The clip featured photos of former staffers, including former intern Haya Akbik, falsely attributing explosive accusations to him.
“It’s my name, it’s my reputation to make this allegation, and it’s just completely false,” Akbik told the Associated Press, calling the slander appalling.
“And it harms the senator, somebody else, in the process. So it’s just messed up.”
Akbik added that the exploitation of her image demonstrates why lawmakers need to curb what she calls “AI slop on the Internet,” warning that “it’s so damaging.”
A similar attack has surfaced in Texas targeting James Talarico, who is challenging Sen. Ken Paxton, R-Texas. This video adopted the format of an intimate, direct-to-camera confessional, purportedly from one of Talarico’s former students, but researchers discovered that the testimony had been manipulated using artificial intelligence tools.
“The most powerful people in the world know they can’t beat James Talarico with the truth, so they smear him with AI deepfakes, alien bots and conspiracy theories to protect their broken and corrupt political system,” said Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis.
Digital forensics experts told the AP that the campaign had unmistakable ties to Storm-1516, a well-known Russian disinformation network that conducted sophisticated online influence campaigns during the 2024 presidential election.
Hany Farid, a Dartmouth College professor and synthetic media expert, found Brown’s clip to be a “fairly low-tech fake,” he told the AP, while Talarico’s confessional was likely produced using generative AI, noting that “it is consistent with previous disinformation campaigns released in the run-up to Election Day.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gn usa
