Ethics complaint filed over Van Orden’s use of AI

A complaint has been filed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission against U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden over his use of artificial intelligence to generate images of his Democratic opponent Rebecca Cooke that were posted to his and his campaign’s online accounts. 

Ahead of the Oct. 20 debate between the two candidates, a Van Orden campaign account posted an advertisement for the event that included what Cooke’s campaign says is a computer generated deepfake image of her. 

Van Orden has spent much of the campaign cycle posting AI photos and videos to social media. Late last month, Cooke’s campaign sent a cease and desist letter to Van Orden seeking to stop him from posting fake material about Cooke, including a video in which she is made to look as if she’s saying she’s running to “take advantage of as much corruption as possible, and give every illegal immigrant free healthcare.”

After the debate advertisement was posted, Eau Claire resident Cassandra Butzler filed a complaint against Van Orden with the state ethics commission, alleging he has broken a 2024 law which requires that any political ad that contains AI must be clearly labeled as such. So far, Van Orden’s posts have not been subject to the law because they don’t qualify as advertisements. 

“Derrick Van Orden continues to spend his time posting AI-generated deepfakes instead of offering real solutions for the working families of our district,” Cooke said in a media release. “He has now gone so far as to violate Wisconsin’s ethics rules, but voters won’t be fooled, Van Orden has never put his constituents first, and he never will.”

Van Orden has previously dismissed the complaints about his AI use as a stunt. Grace Kim, his spokesperson, similarly told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that the ethics complaint is a “cheap publicity stunt.”