Description: Queens prosecutors alleged that former City Council candidate Jonathan Rinaldi used AI during his 2025 campaign to manufacture the appearance of political support through posts made to resemble authentic endorsements and news coverage. The material reportedly attributed backing to public figures and institutions that had not provided it and falsely claimed that opponent Lynn Schulman had withdrawn. Rinaldi was charged with forgery and possession of forged instruments.
Editor Notes: Timeline notes: The incident date of 01/17/2025 reflects the beginning of the alleged activity period; the earliest specifically described publication occurred on 10/04/2025. The incident record was created on 06/25/2026, after the alleged conduct became more fully documented through the Queens County District Attorney's 06/24/2026 announcement.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Synthetic video generation technology developers , OpenAI , Image generation technology developers , Google , Face-swapping technology developers and Deepfake technology developers developed an AI system deployed by political candidates , political campaigns and Jonathan Rinaldi, which harmed political candidates , Voters in New York City Council District 29 , Voters in New York , Voters , The Amsterdam News , Social media users , Robert Holden , Queens Jewish Alliance , Public institutions , Police departments , People falsely attributed as authors , P.S. 101 School in Queens , Organizations falsely represented as political endorsers , Nonprofit organizations , News organizations , New York Post , New York Daily News , New York City Police Department 112th Precinct , New York City Police Department , Lynn Schulman , Instagram users , Facebook users , Epistemic integrity , Elected officials , Educational communities , Democratic integrity , Daniel Kurzyna , CNN and Asian Wave Alliance.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Synthetic video generation technology , Synthetic media generation technology , Sora , Social media platforms , Instagram , Image generation technology , Gemini , Facebook , Face-swapping technology and Deepfake technology
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1557
Report Count
1
Incident Date
2025-01-17
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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Queens County District Attorney's Office post-incident response
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Jonathan Rinaldi has been charged with forgery and criminal possession of a forged instrument for allegedly creating and distributing false political endorsements and fake news articles u…
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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