Paxton’s AI-Heavy Ad Leaves Out Context of Talarico Remarks About Christianity

Filed 2h ago · Via FactCheck.org · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Michal Bělka · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

A Paxton campaign ad uses an AI-generated version of opponent James Talarico reciting a fabricated 'King James (Talarico) Bible,' built from real remarks Talarico made in 2021 about gender and Christianity, stripped of surrounding context. A small disclaimer noting AI content appears twenty seconds into the thirty-second spot.

Talarico did call himself 'a Christian who hates Christianity' on a 2021 podcast, but followed it by praising Christian teachings as the most radical framework he'd found; he also said 'God is nonbinary' during a 2021 floor speech opposing a youth sports bill, referencing Hebrew grammar in Genesis. Neither remark appeared in the ad the way it was originally spoken, and some phrases shown onscreen weren't things he said at all.

The Paxton campaign did not respond to requests for comment; the Talarico campaign called the ad an attempt to 'put words in James's mouth with AI deepfake videos.'

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A campaign that has to build its opponent a fake Bible to make its point is telling you something about the strength of the real one. Slapping a disclaimer near the end credits, in print you'd need a magnifying glass to read, isn't transparency, it's a legal fig leaf. If the actual quotes worked fine on their own, nobody would need the AI puppet show.

Source: Read the original at FactCheck.org → Scored: Scheming Weasel faster · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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