{"id":657,"date":"2026-05-18T20:05:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=657"},"modified":"2026-05-18T20:05:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:05:33","slug":"a-candidate-with-no-hand-and-the-senator-who-doesnt-look-like-the-senator-ai-seeps-into-state-house-campaign-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=657","title":{"rendered":"A candidate with no hand and the senator who doesn\u2019t look like the senator: AI seeps into state House campaign materials"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Massachusetts House candidate posted a photo Sunday touting an endorsement that immediately looked peculiar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Chad Tracy decides the lineup, and other Red Sox thoughts<\/a><\/p>\n

The candidate, Brewster Democrat and school committee member Steve Leibowitz, posed in a navy suit with a sleeve that ran right into the blue background, his hand nowhere to be seen. The official endorsing him, state Senator Jamie Eldridge, looked, well, nothing like state Senator Jamie Eldridge. <\/span><\/p>\n

He had four fingers on his left hand and the face of someone completely unrecognizable. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cWe took a photo together that looked a lot like that,\u201d Eldridge, a Marlborough Democrat, told the Globe after seeing the image trumpeting his support. \u201cI don\u2019t know exactly what happened.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The endorsement itself was real, but it turns out the photo was rather a product of artificial intelligence, which has seeped into college campuses, state government, and increasingly, state and national politics. In Massachusetts, there are no legal guardrails to police its use in political contests, and while other campaigns and groups have already used generative AI in statewide races, the photo Leibowitz posted on X on Sunday appears to be among the early, if obvious, uses of AI in a state House race.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leibowitz, who is running for the seat currently held by state Representative Chris Flanagan, took down the photo after a Globe reporter reached out Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leibowitz told the Globe that he used ChatGPT to remove the background from an image of him and Eldridge posing together in a State House hearing room. When he did so, he said, it re-imagined the subjects of the photo as well, distorting what Eldridge \u2014 and Leibowitz himself \u2014 look like.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leibowitz said he\u2019s used AI before to generate images for his campaign\u2019s social media, and once made a video using Microsoft\u2019s Clipchamp software. <\/span><\/p>\n

He said he would never \u201cuse AI for nefarious things,\u201d but admitted that he wasn\u2019t paying close attention to the final product before posting the endorsement announcement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[This post] reminds me to be more careful,\u201d said Leibowitz, who has worked in social media and web app consulting for years, according to his LinkedIn. \u201cIf anyone should know better, I should know better.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

About half of states currently regulate the use of AI in political messaging, but Massachusetts is not one of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In 2024, Healey signed into law a measure that wasdesigned to prevent so-called deepfakes in campaign videos and ads by barring campaigns from spreading deceptive images with \u201cactual malice,\u201d but the temporary measure expired a year ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the timing of its passage, the law was never actually in effect for any state election.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Massachusetts House in February passed a pairof bills that would bar campaigns from spreading \u201cmaterially deceptive\u201d synthetic media intended to \u201cinjure [a] candidate\u2019s reputation\u201d within 90 days of an election. A separate Republican-led proposal would require campaigns and PACs to disclose when AI is deployed in a campaign \u201ccommunication.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The state Senate has yet to take up either measure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leibowitz is one of two Democrats who\u2019ve announced campaigns for the legislative seat currently held by Flanagan, who has remained in office despite a wave of calls for him to resign amid federal fraud charges. Flanagan has been accused of using used a fake name to hide his role in paying for a mailer in support of his campaign, and ultimately dupe voters, that came from a group called \u201cConservatives for Dennis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The seat had been long held by Republicans before Flanagan won the election in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flanagan was arrested last year on charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his former employer, the Home Builders Association in Cape Cod, concealed the thefts, and then used the money to pay down mortgage bills, bankroll his House campaign, and pay for a psychic.<\/span><\/p>\n

US Attorney Leah Foley\u2019s office filed new charges against him this month, alleging Flanagan also did not report the stolen funds on his personal tax returns over three years and failed to disclose thousands of dollars of rental income he collected on his 2023 tax returns.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dennis Port Democrat has represented the district, which includes Brewster, Dennis, and parts of Yarmouth, since 2023, though it appears he will not seek another term.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Secretary of State William Galvin\u2019s office previously told the Globe that Flanagan had not pulled papers from the state to run for reelection. The deadline to file signatures with local election officials to make the ballot was April 28, the spokesperson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Lambton, a Democrat from Dennis and former television personality, has also said he would run for the seat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Federal jury sides with OpenAI in feud with Elon Musk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mass. House candidate Steve Leibowitz said he used AI to remove the background of a photo announcing an endorsement. 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