20 Oct 2026Event location unknownUnidentified video tool (suspected)
On 20 October 2026, during early voting in Texas, a newly created X account posted two videos in which a man presented himself as a former student of James Talarico, the Democratic US Senate candidate and a former middle-school teacher, and accused him of sexual assault in 2012. The threat-intelligence firm Graphika said the account very likely impersonated a real Facebook user of the same name who had been Talarico's student and had praised him, assessed the videos as very likely deepfakes because the face moved unnaturally or out of sync with the audio and AI analysis tools indicated AI generation, and attributed them with high confidence to the Russia-aligned influence operation Storm-1516. PolitiFact reported that NewsGuard found many signs of AI generation and a 98 percent detector score, and that the real former student told the fact-checkers Lead Stories the video was not of him and denied accusing Talarico. Talarico's campaign said he was being slandered with AI deepfakes, foreign bots and conspiracy theories. PolitiFact rated the claim Pants on Fire. Who made the videos and how many people saw them is not established.
Core + contextual relations Medium reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 25/10/2026
1 Oct 2026United StatesUnidentified video tool
In early October 2026 the campaign of Scott Colom, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi, posted on social media a 19-second AI-generated video showing a woman made to look like his opponent, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, running from a crowd of reporters at the U.S. Capitol and getting into a car. Local outlets report that the post called it "based on a true story" and did not disclose that it was made with AI. Hyde-Smith's campaign manager called it an AI video and part of a campaign of "lies and deception". On 22 October the Mississippi Republican Party asked the state Attorney General to investigate whether the video broke a state law against knowingly spreading a deceptive AI depiction of a candidate within 90 days of an election, and to seek an injunction. Colom's campaign manager defended the campaign's use of AI and called the complaint desperate; the law exempts satire and parody. On Friday 23 October Attorney General Lynn Fitch said she had notified the campaign that its AI-generated ads appeared to violate the state law against political deepfakes and asked that they be removed that afternoon, or her office might seek an injunction. Colom called the video parody but said the campaign would delete the post rather than spend donors' money on litigation, and by that afternoon two Mississippi stations reported that it no longer appeared on the campaign's Facebook page. No court has ruled on whether the video broke the law.
Core concern Low reported severity
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 7 sources, 5 underlying accounts · Added 23/10/2026
2026United StatesUnidentified video tool
The Independence Institute, a libertarian-leaning Colorado think tank opposing Proposition NN on the November 2026 ballot, posted a video on its social media accounts in which an AI-generated likeness of Democratic state Sen. Cathy Kipp, who sponsored the bill that referred the measure to voters, appears as a grocery store clerk who keeps a customer's change and says it will help educate children. CBS Colorado reported that the institute made the video in response to remarks Kipp made on the Senate floor in April 2026. Kipp filed a campaign finance complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State's office on 5 August 2026, according to Colorado Newsline, alleging that the video lacked the disclosure a 2024 state law requires on deepfakes of candidates and officeholders; the video carried only a small line reading "AI generated content because who gets a human cashier these days?". Kipp said it was "disturbing and wrong to use a deepfake, AI-generated video of someone without their consent". The office decided on 19 August to investigate; a spokesperson said it was the first complaint filed within the statutory timeframe for consideration. The institute says the video is satire, which the law exempts, that the law covers candidates rather than ballot measures, and that applying it would violate the First Amendment. CBS Colorado reported on 9 October 2026 that the institute's lawyer had filed a motion to dismiss and planned to sue Kipp and the state for attorney fees, and that the state elections division disputed the satire defence. No decision is reported.
Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution disputed · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 11/10/2026
7 Sept 2026United StatesUnidentified image tool
Granite Post reported on 5 October 2026 that the New Hampshire Senate Republicans paid Meta to show Facebook and Instagram users an image of Leonard Bell, the Democratic candidate for state Senate District 18 and the only Black candidate for state Senate in New Hampshire this year, laughing in a leather armchair buried in cash and wearing gold chains, a large ring and a watch. According to the outlet, Meta labelled the ad "Digitally created" and its detail page states that the media was created or edited with AI; Bell’s face appears to have been taken from a family snapshot. Bell told the outlet that everything in the image is false other than his face. Citing Meta’s Ad Library, the outlet says three ads from 7 September put the image on New Hampshire screens 39,000 to 50,000 times. The outlet describes the image as a racial stereotype, and a Democratic co-sponsor of New Hampshire’s 2024 deepfake law called it a racist caricature. The Senate Republicans did not respond to questions.
Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 06/10/2026
Sept 2026United StatesUnidentified image tool
In September 2026 Republican state Sen. Jay Block posted on social media a fake image of New Mexico Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart made to look like a jail mugshot. The Santa Fe New Mexican (24 September 2026) reports that Block's posts indicate the image was AI-generated and that it showed her ostensibly booked into the Bernalillo County jail on charges of 'hit and run' and 'abusive behavior towards staff and other lawmakers'. Stewart was not issued a citation or booked, and Santa Fe's interim police chief said the 2024 incident in which she drove over a pedestrian's foot was not considered a hit and run crash. Stewart asked Block and the Senate Republican caucus to take down the fabricated image. Block said he stands by the post and has no plans to remove it. KRQE reported on 2 October 2026 that the Democratic Party of New Mexico had filed an ethics complaint over this post and over an image that Senate Republican leader Bill Sharer and the Senate Republicans shared on Facebook in September, which shows House Speaker Javier Martinez wearing a Soviet Union pin, gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland with her arm around a man in an orange jumpsuit and former state Rep. Joseph Hernandez naked. The party calls both 'misleading AI generated images' that violate a 2024 state law on deepfakes and wants the posts removed and the posters fined.
Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources · Added 03/10/2026
Event date unknownColombiaUnidentified video tool
By 26 September 2026 a video was circulating on social media appearing to show Senator Isabel Zuleta, in the Senate chamber, reacting with obscene language to being called 'cabeza de brócoli'. Zuleta said on X that it was a fake created with AI using her face, voice and the Senate setting, and that it sought to distort her work in opposition. The video drew a wave of criticism and attacks as users shared it as real, and several regional sites ran it as authentic. She asked the Fiscalía General de la Nación to investigate identity impersonation and said she would report the accounts spreading it. Her party, the Pacto Histórico, rejected the video and asked the Fiscalía, the Police and the National Electoral Council to investigate coordinated attacks on opposition congresswomen.
Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 29/09/2026
Event date unknownUnited StatesUnidentified image tool
In a release of 29 May 2026, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said a man had been arrested and charged under the state's Senate Bill 20 with possession of computer-generated child sexual abuse material. DPS said FBI agents who examined his devices in April 2026 found more than 900 AI-generated sexual images and videos of children, as well as non-AI abuse images, and that investigators determined he had taken photos from public pages affiliated with South Texas schools and used AI tools to “nudify” the children. DPS said about 30 child victims had been identified and that the FBI was coordinating victim services. The tools are not named. These are law-enforcement allegations that had not been tested in court, and no later court report was found by 25 October 2026.
Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 03/06/2026
1 Apr 2023United StatesCharacter.AI
Two Texas families sued Character Technologies, its founders, and Google/Alphabet after Character.AI allegedly harmed their children. J.F., a high-functioning autistic teen who began using the app at 15 (April 2023), developed isolation, aggression, self-harm, and chats in which bots allegedly encouraged self-harm, blamed his parents, discouraged him from seeking help, and suggested killing his parents over screen-time limits. B.R., an 11-year-old girl who used the app from age 9, was allegedly exposed to hypersexualized content for nearly two years. Complaint filed E.D. Tex. 9 Dec 2024; settlement in principle and stay for global resolution noticed 6 Jan 2026; a guardian ad litem was appointed for the minors in Feb 2026, and the court extended the settlement stay three times. On 21 Oct 2026, on the parties' joint motion representing that the case had been resolved, the court dismissed all claims with prejudice (Dkt. 118). Character Technologies had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy late on 12 Oct 2026, Reuters reported.
Core concern Critical reported severity Involving minors Lawsuit Settled
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution alleged · 10 sources, 7 underlying accounts · Added 11/01/2026