Flanagan blasts Craig for PAC's use of AI deepfake in TV attack ad

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is calling out U.S. Sen. Angie Craig over the use of an AI-generated image of Flanagan in an attack ad from a pro-Craig PAC.The new commercial, paid for by the North Star Dawn PAC, depicts Flanagan standing atop a pile of cash, smiling and putting her hand out as if she were accepting money.“Today, you might see a TV ad starring something that... kind of looks like me," Flanagan said in a statement Wednesday. "My opponent's super PAC is using an AI deepfake of me to mislead voters. "They can't win with the truth – so they're resorting to lies. It's disgusting. Minnesotans deserve better."Flanagan and Craig are competing for the DFL nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, though Craig opted to forgo the party's endorsement process and instead focus on the August primary, when it will be decided which of them will appear on the November ballot. Ad Impact Craig's campaign claims that the congresswoman does not support the use of AI in political ads, and points out that she has previously co-sponsored federal legislation seeking to ban AI deepfakes."The Lt. Governor’s complaints are meant to distract from the fact she accepted millions of corporate dollars as chair of the DLGA – including from the pharma, tobacco, oil and gas industries, and an ICE detention center contractor," a Craig campaign spokesperson said in a statement provided to Bring Me The News.Those are the same allegations made in North Star Dawn's attack ad.Minnesota passed legislation banning the use of AI deepfakes to influence elections in 2023, following its introduction by state Sen. Erin Maye Quade (D-Apple Valley)."Minnesotans of all political beliefs are deeply concerned with the way that AI has been rolled out to consumers, running roughshod over humanity and society, and we don't want to see that injected into our democracy," Maye Quade said in a video posted to social media Wednesday."Politics is already hard enough. We don't need to add in AI deepfakes to the elections process."