Last week, state Sen. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park) claimed in a Facebook post that recent images of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign rallies were “AI generated.” Baisley posited that these videos violate Colorado’s Candidate Election Deepfake Disclosures Act, and should be reported to Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold.
“All of the phony AI generated images depicting massive crowds for Kamala Harris are in violation of Colorado’s new (and silly) Candidate Election Deepfake Disclosures law,” Baisley wrote online. “Jenna Griswold awaits your call.”
With many other Republican leaders, including Donald Trump, calling Harris’s rally images fake, Baisley’s post is not uncommon — even if it is unfounded. Axios and other fact-checkers reported that these accusations are untrue.
Despite Baisley’s post, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office stated it has not received any complaints about the Harris campaign violating the Deepfake Disclosures Act, including no complaint from Baisley himself.
When asked about his post, Baisley said that it was just as much a criticism of the Disclosures Act as it was an accusation against images of Harris rallies.
“‘Candidate Election Deepfake Disclosures’ was one of two bills this year that, in my opinion, went too far in attempting to limit the use of artificial intelligence technology. As people raise their concerns of suspected AI exaggerations of the Harris political event crowd sizes, it reminded me of HB24-1147,” Baisley wrote in an email to the Colorado Times Recorder. “While the motivation for that bill was to prevent AI from being used to negatively falsify a candidate’s voice or image, the language also seems to include embellishing a candidate’s popularity. As my constituents asked me what can be done, I encouraged them to exercise the Democrats’ new deepfake law. As Abraham Lincoln advised, ‘The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.’”
Baisley did not comment on the lack of evidence supporting his claim.
CORRECTION 8/20: The headline for this article originally said that Baisley’s accusation was leveled at the Harris campaign. While Baisley is claiming that images of Harris rallies are AI-enhanced, he did not in fact name the Harris Campaign as responsible for posting these images.
