Information manipulation actors in the United States

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 16261 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

2026-07-23

American Exceptionalism Institute reportedly aired an AI-generated political ad portraying Sen. Marsha Blackburn as accepting pharmaceutical-industry payments in exchange for legislative action. Blackburn's attorneys alleged that the bribery claims were defamatory and that the ad failed to comply with Tennessee's synthetic-media disclosure requirements. Comcast and Viamedia reportedly pulled the ad.

Incident 17181 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

2026-09-28

Santa Ana, California, police issued a public warning and searched for a reportedly sighted Gaboon viper after a resident provided an image as evidence. Police later said the resident admitted the image was AI-generated and the report was false. Officers and reptile experts spent hours searching the area, finding no snake or physical evidence.

Incident 17211 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

2026-08-04

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.

Related Entities

Synthetic media creators

Incidents involved as Deployer

Political advocacy organizations

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Political action committees

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Information manipulation actors

Incidents involved as Deployer

Deepfake creators

Incidents involved as Deployer

American Exceptionalism Institute

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Synthetic video generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Synthetic media generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Synthetic audio generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Deepfake technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Voters in the United States

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Voters in Tennessee

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Voters

Incidents Harmed By

Marsha Blackburn

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

General public of Tennessee

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

General public

Incidents Harmed By

Epistemic integrity

Incidents Harmed By

Democratic integrity

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1626
1 Report
American Exceptionalism Institute's Purportedly AI-Generated Ad Drew Defamation Claims Over Marsha Blackburn Pharmaceutical Bribery Allegations

Synthetic video generation technology

Incidents implicated systems

Synthetic media generation technology

Incidents implicated systems

Synthetic audio generation technology

Incidents implicated systems

Deepfake technology

Incidents implicated systems

Joel Ciprian

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

Synthetic image generation technology developers

Incidents involved as Developer

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

xAI

Incidents involved as Developer

Santa Ana residents

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

General public of California

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

Emergency responders

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

Santa Ana Police Department

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

Law enforcement

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

Synthetic image generation technology

Incidents implicated systems

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

Grok

Incidents implicated systems

Incident 1718
1 Report
Purportedly AI-Generated Image Reportedly Prompted Police Alert and Search for Nonexistent Venomous Viper in Santa Ana, California

Derrick Van Orden

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Public figures

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Politicians

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Politicians in the United States

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Incidents involved as Deployer

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Rebecca Cooke

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Political candidates targeted by deepfakes

Incidents Harmed By

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Grok Imagine

Incidents implicated systems

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Synthetic media technology

Incidents implicated systems

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

X (Twitter)

Incidents implicated systems

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say

Social media platforms

Incidents implicated systems

Incident 1721
1 Report
Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden Reportedly Posted Grok Imagine Deepfakes Depicting Opponent Rebecca Cooke Saying Things She Did Not Say