Deepfakes and misinformation driven by artificial intelligence have become a point of deep concern for legislators, advocates and the public
An image of College Park, Georgia mayor Bianca Motley Broom kissing a man – who was not her husband – in a bar spread far and wide on Facebook. The fact that it’s fake is spreading faster, now, but only after it had been seen by thousands of people.
“I think this is a sad commentary about where we are in our democracy, and where we are in our political discourse,” Motley Broom said. “It also seeks to reinforce really tired stereotypes about women in leadership.”
Six years ago, when Motley Broom first took office in the Atlanta suburb, a political enemy might have needed at least rudimentary skill with image-editing software to forge an image of a politician in a compromising position. Today, all that is required is a computer and a prompt for an AI image generator.
A poll taken mid-June by Rad Campaign, a digital marketing agency, and Women Who Tech, an advocacy organization for female entrepreneurs, showed that about 71% of respondents worry about AI-generated deepfakes and disinformation affecting elections, while two in three respondents said they were concerned about AI being used to sexualize women.
“The findings show that Americans are more concerned about AI’s use in deepfakes, election disinformation, and the sexualization of women and children than its impact on jobs or the economy,” said Allyson Kapin, founder of the Rad Campaign and cofounder of Women Who Tech.
The Trump administration has a penchant for deploying AI imagery. In January, the White House’s official account on the social media platform X posted a digitally altered image of Nekima Levy Armstrong, who had been arrested in connection with a demonstration that disrupted church services in St Paul, Minnesota.
A picture of her calmly being escorted by a DHS agent was altered so that she appeared to be crying, and her skin had been darkened. Kaelan Dorr, the White House deputy communications director, later described the image as a “meme”.
Fake images of Zohran Mamdami, New York’s mayor, also began circulating from a “parody” account on X in February, falsely depicting him and his mother in the company of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Using Google’s SynthID tool, Reuters debunked the images, but not before other accounts had recirculated them as authentic, fueling conspiracy theories.
Despite significant apprehension around the potential economic consequences of AI, concern about deepfake images being used to sexualize women or children, or to influence elections, outstrips concern about AI affecting jobs by about three to one, Kapin said.
“The public is deeply concerned.”
Fact from fiction
Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democratic senator, said in a video posted to Facebook that deepfake images had been circulating online falsely depicting him with health problems, with an armful of grandchildren he does not have – and with a full head of hair, which he said was funny, if problematic.
“As these tools become increasingly powerful, it will get harder and harder to distinguish fact from fiction, and there are already bad actors out there, who are doing everything they can to divide us and confuse us,” Warnock said. “This has huge implications for our democracy. What if hours before an election, someone created a page with AI, generated images, fake stories about the candidates, how will voters know what’s true, and what’s not true?”
Warnock is among a group of senate Democrats who have been war-gaming political responses to possible election interference scenarios. Chief among those scenarios: disinformation driven by fabricated images or videos circulated through social media.
Outgoing US senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, offered a bill last week requiring AI firms to install a “kill switch” for rogue AI. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked Kennedy’s bill, describing the effort as premature without additional industry input.
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, said in an interview earlier this month on SiriusXM that government should move “urgently” on AI regulations, broadly, calling for “guardrails to protect the American people from bad actors and bad behavior”, adding: “It should be a high priority.”
Jeffries noted that Republicans attempted to pass legislation preempting states from regulating AI last year, as part of the omnibus One Big Beautiful Bill. The amendment failed on a 99-1 vote in the senate.
State legislatures are also wrestling with AI regulation amid a widespread, bipartisan public backlash. Some states have legislation like Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act – the Elvis Act – which protects politicians and residents alike from AI voice cloning and digital likeness replication, using the state’s robust right-of-publicity protections that are a product of Nashville’s recording industry.
Clear disclaimers are legally required in most states when a political campaign uses AI to manipulate the speeches, appearances or actions of officials or candidates. Georgia is not one of them.
While legislators in Georgia began debated deepfake protections in bills proposed in 2024 and 2025, they have not yet enacted legislation.
Motley Broom said she believes she was targeted by political opponents who objected to her role as a past president of the Georgia Municipal Association. “I have worked for my city to try to be the best advocate I can be on behalf of College Park,” Motley Broom said. “And I certainly won’t be deterred by internet trolls who think this carries weight.”
While she could consider legal action under existing defamation law in Georgia, Motley Broom paused for a moment when asked what legislators should be doing about this. The first amendment protection for speech has to be considered, she said.
“These types of attacks should not be without consequences,” she said. “I hope that lawmakers can address this in a way that balances not only first amendment protections, but the right of an individual not to have completely false accusations being levied. And I’m really hopeful that … that lawmakers on the state and federal level can think about that and think about it carefully, because this is the tip of the iceberg.”
Explore more on these topicsReuse this content
