Description: Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden repeatedly posted Grok Imagine-generated videos depicting Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke saying statements she did not make. Cooke called the clips deceptive and defamatory; Van Orden's campaign described them as obvious AI-generated satire. Cooke's attorneys later sent a cease-and-desist alleging the videos were intended to mislead voters and harm her reputation.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: xAI , Synthetic video generation technology developers , Deepfake technology developers , Synthetic media generation technology developers and Synthetic audio generation technology developers developed an AI system deployed by Derrick Van Orden , Deepfake creators , Synthetic media creators , Public figures , Politicians , Politicians in the United States , Information manipulation actors and Information manipulation actors in the United States, which harmed Public figures , Politicians , Politicians in the United States , Rebecca Cooke , Political candidates targeted by deepfakes , Voters and Epistemic integrity.
Alleged implicated AI systems: Grok Imagine , Synthetic video generation technology , Deepfake technology , Synthetic media technology , X (Twitter) , Social media platforms and Synthetic audio generation technology
Incident Stats
Incident ID
1721
Report Count
1
Incident Date
2026-08-04
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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Attorneys for congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke have sent a cease-and-desist letter to U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R- Prairie du Chien, over Van Orden's use of deepfake videos.
Cooke, a Democrat, is challenging Van Orden this November …
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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