Republican Congressional candidate Sydney Gruters is facing backlash from Democratic opponent Kelly Kirschner over a commercial that uses AI-generated imagery to falsely depict Kirschner in a police "perp walk" and on a criminal investigator’s evidence board.
Kirschner, who has never been arrested, demanded the ad be pulled, citing a Florida law requiring prominent disclosures for AI-generated depictions, which his campaign says the spot intentionally minimized.
"Sydney Gruters has outsourced her entire campaign to AI," said Kirschner. "She created a deepfake video using AI to depict me in a 'perp walk' that never happened, in a room that doesn’t exist, then shrank the AI warning so you’d miss it. That’s not a mistake. That’s a choice. People here are worried about what AI and data centers will do to their communities and their power bills. Sydney Gruters just showed us how she plans to use it."
A "Paid for by Sydney Gruters for Congress" disclaimer appears on the ad, indicating it is a direct campaign ad, rather than a super PAC independent expenditure, making the campaign directly accountable under Florida's 2024 AI-disclosure law.
The controversy is part of a broader spending war in Florida's 16th Congressional District, where Gruters' campaign and affiliated super PACs have invested millions in AI-enhanced attacks portraying Kirschner as a radical extremist.
"I’ve been warning voters that these attacks insult their intelligence," said Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse. "Now they’re faking it outright. You don’t use a computer to depict your opponent in a perp walk unless you’ve got nothing real to say. I’m a Republican, and this isn’t who we are."
Kirshner and Gruters are locked in a battle to succeed retiring Congressman Vern Buchanan in Florida's 16th Congressional District, which includes Manatee County.
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