AI deepfakes blur reality in 2026 US midterm campaigns

try{ var _=i o; . if(!_||_&&typeof _==="object"&&_.expiry Houthis strike Israel as conflict widens; 12 US soldiers injured in a Saudi strike Markets still expect further escalation in coming days/weeks, analyst says Barclays warns ‘Trump put’ losing impact amid policy swings Leading broker sees gold falling to $3,700 as a real possibility (South Africa Philippines Nigeria) AI deepfakes blur reality in 2026 US midterm campaigns By Politics Published 03/28/2026, 06:05 AM Updated 03/28/2026, 06:06 AM AI deepfakes blur reality in 2026 US midterm campaigns 0 By Joseph Ax and Helen Coster NEW YORK, March 28 - As the video opens, Democratic Texas State Representative James Talarico appears to stand in front of a Texas flag, beaming. "Radicalized white men are the greatest domestic terrorist threat in our country," the U.S. Senate candidate seems to say into the camera. As a voice whispers "white men," Talarico continues: "So true. So true." But Talarico never filmed that video. Instead, the clip is an AI-generated ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee , the party’s Senate campaign arm, featuring a computer-altered Talarico reciting social media posts he wrote years ago. The words "AI generated" show up in easy-to-miss font in the lower righthand corner. The realistic video is among a vanguard of "deepfake" advertisements that some campaigns are already deploying ahead of November’s midterm elections, taking advantage of AI tools that are improving at a breakneck pace. The ads are being introduced into a media landscape with few guardrails. There is no federal regulation constraining the use of AI in political messaging, leaving only a patchwork of largely untested state laws. And while social media companies like Meta and X label certain AI-generated content, they have scrapped professional fact‑checking systems in favor of user-generated notes. Politics experts worry such videos could leave voters confused, or even deceived. The stakes are high: the electio...