By Reagan Priest | Arizona Capitol Times
Key Points:
- On Oct. 17, Sen. Wendy Rogers reposted a deepfake video of Gov. Katie Hobbs
- Deepfakes do not violate Arizona laws related to content
- Experts say elected officials cannot rely on regulation to combat deepfakes
“I promise if I’m reelected governor, you won’t recognize your state by the end of my term,” Gov. Katie Hobbs says in a six-second video posted to X on Oct. 17.
Except the governor never said that. The video is a deepfake, developed using generative artificial intelligence and an official portrait of Hobbs taken in 2023.
To Arizona politicos familiar with the governor, the video is obviously fake. The voice does not belong to Hobbs and the smile the fake governor flashes at the end of the clip is slightly uncanny.
