{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0662","record_version":1,"title":"Likely AI deepfake campaign ad appears in Connecticut election","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":43.5,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":3.2,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"e3ab4e3946ba1fbe336566cd81b26332bdc133377a3ad565f26bbba48a627d0d"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-07-28","incident_class":"harmful_output","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"A campaign video released by the campaign of Mark Bradley, a challenger in the Democratic primary for Bridgeport probate judge, appears to use artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions of Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, with fake voices delivering invented dialogue. Bradley did not deny that AI was used and defended the ad's substance. Paul Ganim's campaign manager said the video was designed to fool viewers. The video was posted on social media. The tool and model used are not named in the sources. A state bill that would have regulated deceptive synthetic media passed committee but never reached the House floor. CT Insider reported the video, and a UConn researcher said she immediately recognized it as artificially generated. The sources state no removal or penalty.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":"deployer","adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK19","secondary_risks":["RK17"]},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"moderate","severity_because":"Moderate: data or systems of others touched with a bounded scope stated. The video synthesises the likeness and voice of two named people, Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":"Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, whose likenesses and voices were synthesised in the video","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/connecticut-ai-campaign-video-deepfake-concerns-22359113.php","publisher":"CT Insider","date":"2026-07-28","type":"press","title":"Likely AI deepfake campaign ad appears in Connecticut election after bill stalled - CT Insider","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.responsible_party":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.secondary_risks":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.responsible_party":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The video was released by the campaign for Mark Bradley, a private attorney challenging Paul Ganim in the Democratic primary for his probate judge seat."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A campaign video released in Bridgeport's probate judge race appears to use artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions of Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, complete with fake voices delivering dialogue neither man actually spoke about raising taxes and stealing money."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A campaign video released in Bridgeport's probate judge race appears to use artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions of Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, complete with fake voices delivering dialogue neither man actually spoke about raising taxes and stealing money."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A campaign video released in Bridgeport's probate judge race appears to use artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions of Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, complete with fake voices delivering dialogue neither man actually spoke about raising taxes and stealing money."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A campaign video released in Bridgeport's probate judge race appears to use artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions of Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, complete with fake voices delivering dialogue neither man actually spoke about raising taxes and stealing money."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A campaign video released in Bridgeport's probate judge race appears to use artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions of Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, complete with fake voices delivering dialogue neither man actually spoke about raising taxes and stealing money."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Bradley did not deny that artificial intelligence was used to create the video or that the voices and quotations attributed to the Ganim brothers were fabricated for the advertisement in an interview with CT Insider."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"It's obviously synthetic AI-created impersonations of real people using fake voices, trying to trick the public into thinking they did and said certain things, which obviously they didn't."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Bradley nevertheless defended the substance of the ad posted on social media."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The bill was passed in committee but ultimately did not come to the House floor for a vote."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Ji Yun Suk, an assistant professor in the University of Connecticut's Department of Communication who studies AI-mediated political communication, said she immediately recognized the Bradley video as artificially generated."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"The sources do not name the AI tool, model, developer or harness, and do not state whether an autonomous agent was involved, so no agent fields or failure classes are given. The year of the Aug. 11 primary and the date of the video's release are not stated, so no event dates are given; the article's own publication date was not treated as an event date. No country is stated explicitly, so context.country is omitted. Whether the flyer was AI-generated is unclear per the sources and is not recorded. Judgement: incident_class set to harmful_output because the content was fabricated speech of real people meant to mislead voters. Responsible_party set to deployer because the campaign released the ad. Severity set to moderate because the likenesses of two named people were used with a bounded scope; no regulator action or count beyond two is stated. Detection is described only as a reporter's and researcher's recognition; no detection method is classed. Controls I6 and I9 are recorded as missing based on the disclaimer and permission facts quoted. No remediation is stated. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"A campaign video appears to use AI to create synthetic versions of two Bridgeport politicians with fake voices.","quote":"A campaign video released in Bridgeport's probate judge race appears to use artificial intelligence to create synthetic versions of Mayor Joe Ganim and Probate Judge Paul Ganim, complete with fake voices delivering dialogue neither man actually spoke about raising taxes and stealing money.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The video appears to use a still photo taken without permission and to fabricate dialogue and quotations.","quote":"The videos seem to be created using still photos, one of which appears to have been used without permission from CT Insider’s archive, with AI turning them into video.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The ad was posted on social media.","quote":"Bradley nevertheless defended the substance of the ad posted on social media.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/connecticut-ai-campaign-video-deepfake-concerns-22359113.php"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"House Bill 5342 is proposed in the state legislature.","quote":"House Bill 5342, proposed this year in the state legislature, would have regulated certain \"deceptive synthetic media\" distributed 90 days before an election or primary, including manipulated video or audio that made identifiable people appear to say or do things they had not said or done.","source_index":0,"when":"this year"},{"text":"The bill passes committee but does not reach a House floor vote.","quote":"The bill was passed in committee but ultimately did not come to the House floor for a vote.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"The synthetic campaign video appears in the Aug. 11 primary.","quote":"Before they could pass a bill that could have led to penalties for those creating the material, that seems to have become a reality in the Aug. 11 primary.","source_index":0,"when":"Aug. 11"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/connecticut-ai-campaign-video-deepfake-concerns-22359113.php"]}}