Dan Patrick faces criminal complaint over AI-generated political ads

Texas State Representative Vikki Goodwin, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, has filed a criminal complaint against incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. The complaint, submitted to the Travis County Sheriff's Office, alleges that Patrick violated a 2019 Texas state law prohibiting the use of deepfake videos in political advertisements within 30 days of an election.

The legal action follows the release of two campaign advertisements featuring AI-generated images of Goodwin at a University of Texas football game. In the videos, Goodwin appears to wear a shirt that reads ‘taxes’ instead of ‘Texas’. Goodwin stated in a sworn affidavit that she did not personally perform or say the actions depicted and accused Patrick of attempting to deceive voters and influence the election results.

A spokesperson for Patrick defended the content, describing the videos as ‘obvious parody produced to entertain’ and asserting that no reasonable person would view them as deceptive. The campaign also maintained that the materials were not distributed within the prohibited 30-day window. The videos have since been removed from social media.