Facing increasingly tight polling and an apparent inability to make dirt stick on their Democratic rivals, two of Texas’ highest-profile Republican elected officials have resorted to using artificial intelligence to generate phony footage for their attack ads.
Lt. Gov. Patrick used controversial AI deepfake technology in a spot that debuted over Labor Day weekend mocking Texas Democrats running this election cycle.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign debuted an AI-generated ad showing James Talarico reading fake passages from the Bible — an apparent attempt to slam the state rep’s background as a seminarian. The spot was released to coincide with the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas.
“Ken Paxton and his billionaire backers are using AI deepfake videos to literally put words in James’ mouth because they can’t rely on facts to win this race,” Talarico campaign spokesman JT Ennis told the Current.
Patrick’s political ad, posted on his social media accounts, featured the likenesses of his Democratic challenger Vikki Goodwin as well as those of Talarico and gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, also Democrats.
The phony clip shows Goodwin playing spoilsport at a University of Texas Longhorns football game as she proposes new taxes, including a soda tax, a brisket tax, a happiness tax and a “nostalgia surcharge.”
“They should be chanting taxes instead!” the digitally generated Goodwin is shown saying as the crowd chants “Texas.”
Next, the clip shows a phony Gina Hinojosa appearing at Texas Tech to demand a permit for Red Raider fans’ finger guns.
Finally, the spot includes fake footage of Talarico at a Texas A&M game eating tofu and asking why the 12th Man has to be so gendered.
Goodwin told the Current during a Wednesday phone call that the ads’ fake images and fabricated statements show the desperation of Patrick’s campaign.
“My platform is something that resonates with people, so I don’t really need to lie,” Goodwin said. “There’s a lot of information out there about my opponent already, so there’s not any need for me to put out negative AI ads.”
Goodwin also said Patrick’s spots make it difficult for viewers to differentiate between fact and fiction.
Indeed, a recent survey by biometric identity verification company iProov found that fewer than 0.1% of respondents reliably identified deepfakes they were shown. The research showed that 30% of 55-to 64-year-olds and 39% of those 65 and up had never even heard of deepfakes, highlighting a significant susceptibility for older viewers.
Because deepfakes have become so convincing, they have emerged as a tool for scammers to commit identity theft, wire fraud and other crimes, according to experts.
“Security experts have been warning of the threats posed by deepfakes for individuals and organizations alike for some time,” Professor Edgar Whitley, a digital identity expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science said in a statement about the iProov analysis. “This study shows that organizations can no longer rely on human judgment to spot deepfakes.”
Deepfake fraud now accounts for 6.5% of all fraud attempts globally, up from 0.1% in 2022 — a 2,137% increase, according to statistics shared by ElectroIQ. Financial losses from deepfake scams exceeded $200 million in the first quarter of 2025 alone, a study by DeepStrike found. In the U.S., those losses reached $1.1 billion for all of 2025, Keepnet reports.
Such risks have prompted 49 states to pass some form of legislation cracking down on deepfakes, according to Ballotpedia. Patrick himself charged the Texas Legislature in 2024 to tackle deepfakes being used to simulate child pornography.
However, when an elected official such as Patrick uses the technology to score cheap political points and trick voters, it raises questions about how serious he is about regulating the technology or cracking down on its most nefarious uses.
Although there are no laws regulating the use of AI in political ads, Goodwin told the Current that her Democratic colleagues have reached out to the University of Texas at Austin to alert the institution that Patrick used their brand and likeness without written consent.
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