Russia-linked AI videos target US Democratic Senate candidates

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 28 Oct, 00:32 · Archive

Disinformation videos believed linked to Russia use artificial intelligence and real people's identities to malign Democratic Senate candidates.

Social media videos believed to be produced with artificial intelligence and linked to Russia are misusing real people's names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates. Sherrod Brown, running against Republican Jon Husted in Ohio, and James Talarico, running against Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, are the targets.

One video depicts a newscast using a photograph of Haya Akbik, who interned for Brown. Akbik told the Associated Press that claims attributed to her in the clip are 'completely made up'. Another video is framed as a direct-to-camera confession from a former student of Talarico. A Talarico spokesperson stated that 'the most powerful people in the world know they can't beat James Talarico with the truth, so they're slandering him with AI deepfakes, foreign bots, and conspiracy theories'.

The videos demonstrate how foreign adversaries use artificial intelligence as a tool for fabricating damaging information that can appear very real, attempting to influence voters deciding which party controls Congress. The social media platform X has taken down the initial posts sharing the videos and suspended the users for violating its rules.

How it is being reported

• Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting real people to malign Senate candidatesSocial media videos believed to be linked to Russia are misusing real people’s names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates.Clickorlando · 28 Oct, 00:15
• Disinformation videos, likely from Russia, are exploiting real people to malign Senate candidatesSocial media videos believed to be linked to Russia are misusing real people’s names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates.News4Jax · 28 Oct, 00:15

In this story: Russia · Sherrod Brown · Jon Husted · James Talarico · Ken Paxton · Haya Akbik · Ohio · Texas

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log