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Low reported severity

North Carolina state senator alleges an appliance advertisement used an altered version of her TED Talk, by AI or other means

State Senator DeAndrea Salvador alleges in a federal complaint filed in August 2025 that an advertisement for Whirlpool's Brazilian brand Consul, made by the agency DM9, used her 2018 TED Talk with altered voice and visuals so that she appeared to say things she did not say, and that this caused reputational harm and emotional distress. Cannes Lions stated on 27 June 2025 that AI-generated and manipulated content was used within the campaign's case film to simulate real-world events and campaign outcomes, and withdrew the Grand Prix. The festival statement does not name the plaintiff. The defendants' response to the complaint is not inspected.

AI system
Unidentified AI tool
Occurred
Jun 2025
Reported
27 June 2025
Event location
Brazil
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Reputational HarmPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Advertising · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 2 underlying accounts
6 claims: 2 documented, 4 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: Unidentified AI tools: the complaint alleges alteration "using AI, or some other means", and Cannes Lions found AI-generated and manipulated content in the campaign case film; the tool and whether it was used on the plaintiff's footage are not established

Reported harm

The plaintiff alleges in her complaint that the altered advertisement caused her reputational harm, ridicule and severe emotional distress.

What remains unknown

  • Date the advertisement was created and first released is not established in inspected sources. The June 2025 event month rests on the Cannes award (19 June 2025) and the journalist contact (20 June 2025) in the complaint, so an earlier release, including before 2025, is not excluded.
  • Which AI tools altered the footage, and whether the alteration of the plaintiff's footage (as opposed to CNN Brasil footage) is the AI content found by Cannes Lions, is not established by the Cannes Lions statement.
  • The defendants' response to the complaint and the lawsuit outcome are not inspected.
  • The Washington Post article listed by the archive (30 November 2025) could not be retrieved (HTTP 403 via relay, no body) and is not cited.
  • The complaint's claim that the plaintiff's footage was altered was not independently verified against the advertisement itself.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Claim c6 (complaint: AI, or some other means) and claim c2 (festival finding). The Cannes Lions statement records a festival finding of AI-generated and manipulated content in the case film. The complaint attributes the alteration of the plaintiff's footage to AI "or some other means". The plaintiff's footage is tied to AI only by her allegations and press reports of them.

6 claims: 2 documented, 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The plaintiff alleges that an advertising campaign for the Consul appliance brand used her 2018 TED Talk in altered form, with changed voice and visuals, so that she appeared to say things she did not say.

Causal attribution. Allegation of the plaintiff, made in a complaint and in one interview. No defendant response is inspected. The complaint states the alteration was made "using AI, or some other means".

Documented Cannes Lions stated that AI-generated and manipulated content was used within the case film for the Consul campaign "Efficient Way to Pay" to simulate real world events and campaign outcomes, and withdrew the Grand Prix and associated prizes.

Causal attribution. The statement establishes the festival finding and the withdrawal. It does not name the plaintiff or state which footage was altered.

  • canneslions.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    This follows the discovery that AI-generated and manipulated content was used within the case film to simulate real world events and campaign outcomes
  • canneslions.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    we concluded that the only appropriate course of action was to mutually withdraw the entry from the Festival, and therefore withdraw the Grand Prix and associated prizes.
Reported The plaintiff alleges that the campaign caused her reputational harm, ridicule and severe emotional distress.

Causal attribution. Allegation in the complaint, repeated by two outlets. The complaint states the distress followed her discovery of the altered footage. Distress is not independently verified.

Documented The plaintiff filed a federal civil complaint (W.D.N.C., case 3:25-cv-628) on 20 August 2025 against Omnicom Group, Whirlpool Corporation, DDB Worldwide Communications Group, DM9DDB and Whirlpool do Brasil (Consul), asserting five counts including misappropriation of likeness, unfair and deceptive trade practices, false advertising, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation.

Causal attribution. The filing establishes its own existence and contents. Its allegations remain allegations.

Reported DM9 publicly acknowledged "a series of errors" in producing and submitting the case video, and its chief creative officer was removed or stepped down.

Causal attribution. Courthouse News relays a DM9 LinkedIn statement announcing the removal; Campaign Brief Asia relays Adweek for the step-down and DM9 for "a series of errors". Both are secondhand. The text inspected does not tie the errors to the plaintiff's footage specifically.

Reported The complaint alleges the plaintiff's name, image, likeness and persona were altered using AI, or some other means.

Causal attribution. Plaintiff's allegation. The complaint does not identify the tool.

Sources

5 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Event countries: Brazil. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: United States.

Courthouse News describes the advertisement as promoting appliances in Brazil for Consul. The complaint states the plaintiff is a resident of North Carolina, United States, and was filed in the Western District of North Carolina.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: Complaint text, a festival statement and press coverage inspected. Alteration and harm are the plaintiff's allegations. The festival finding of AI-manipulated content is documented in its own statement but does not name the plaintiff. Public figure named as the litigant in a public filing. The event month (June 2025) is the month of the Cannes Grand Prix (19 June) and of the journalist's contact with the plaintiff (20 June), the earliest dated events in the complaint (paras 52 and 56); the campaign's own release date is not stated and may precede June 2025.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the plaintiff, who reports harm from the altered advertisement. CNN Brasil (an organisation), the festival juries and the public are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). North Carolina state senator alleges an appliance advertisement used an altered version of her TED Talk, by AI or other means. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-brazil-consul-ad-ted-talk-nc-state-senator-alleged-ai-alteration

BibTeX

@misc{2025_brazil_consul_ad_ted_talk_nc_state_senator_alleged_ai_alteration,
  title = {North Carolina state senator alleges an appliance advertisement used an altered version of her TED Talk, by AI or other means},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-brazil-consul-ad-ted-talk-nc-state-senator-alleged-ai-alteration}
}

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