SPOTLIGHT PA: Shapiro Parodies and Chatbot Phone Banks — How AI Is Popping Up in Pa. Elections

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters .

HARRISBURG — Candidates for office in Pennsylvania are using AI tools to generate parody images of their rivals, create campaign materials, and answer questionnaires.

They aren’t making deepfakes, which are images, audio, or videos generated to appear real and misinform the public. But that doesn’t mean tech and election experts aren’t concerned that this could be coming as generative AI becomes more accessible and sophisticated, which is why many state lawmakers want to take action.

Deepfakes have already been used to influence major elections. In 2024, an AI-generated robocall impersonated President Joe Biden, urging people not to vote in a New Hampshire election. Earlier this month, Texas Republicans created an AI-generated video of Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate James Talarico, showing a deepfake version of him reading old posts on X.

The Federal Election Commission considered banning or regulating deepfakes, but in 2024 concluded instead that its rules already prohibit the kind of “fraudulent misrepresentation” that AI can allow. Still, dozens of states have opted to enact laws that require candidates to disclose the use of AI-generated images, videos, or voices that mimic other candidates. Minnesota and Texas have totally banned the use of political deepfakes for a period before an election.

Pennsylvania has no state-specific restrictions on AI for elections, though its use has been spreading for several years.

In 2023, the Associated Press reported that a candidate in a crowded Democratic state House primary was using an AI chatbot to engage with voters, instead of traditional phone banking. In 2024, three state House candidates in Lancaster used AI to respond to a voter guide questionnaire and “help describe their policy views,” according to LNP | LancasterOnline.

In 2025, state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin) posted a series of mock magazine covers featuring Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is up for reelection this year, criticizing him for failing to pass a budget. (Mastriano did not confirm whether the images were AI-generated, but they have the hallmarks of the tech, including indecipherable words.)

The campaign of Stacy Garrity, the only Republican running for governor, posted an AI-generated image last fall of Shapiro standing in front of the Hollywood sign holding a “Newsom Shapiro 2028” sign. A spokesperson for the campaign said it was meant to “parody” Shapiro’s alleged presidential ambitions, but said it’s “clearly not a real photo of the Governor.”

“Garrity for PA’s campaign policy for using AI is to not produce anything that is misleading the viewer to believe something is real when it is not,” said Matt Beynon, a spokesperson for the campaign.

Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro’s campaign, disagreed, saying, “This is yet another example of the Garrity campaign’s tenuous grasp on reality.” Bonder did not say whether the Shapiro campaign has its own policy on AI use.

Spotlight PA has identified several instances where 2026 legislative candidates appear to have used AI to generate basic images.

Lindsay Krug, one of three Republican candidates in a competitive primary for the 91st state House District in Adams County, used it to generate her campaign photo. The choice came down to thrift, she told Spotlight PA.

Krug, who sits on the Conewago Valley School Board, said it was a shortcut that saved her from a costly photo shoot for promotional materials for her campaign. She added that she’s only spent $1,000 on her campaign so far, and “even that, to me, is an insane amount of money.”

“No [judgment] to the other candidates that spend thousands of dollars,” Krug said. “This is the first campaign that I’ve done where I got signs. That was the biggest expense.”

A bill passed unanimously by the state House last year anticipates darker uses for AI tech. It would create financial consequences for candidates, political action committees, or political parties that use AI to generate photos or videos that misrepresent candidates close to the election.

State Rep. Tarik Khan (D., Philadelphia), the prime sponsor of the bipartisan bill, said it’s aimed at safeguarding the democratic process in a world where people increasingly “can’t trust what they see with their own eyes.”

“[Voting] is sort of central to our success as a nation as a democracy,” Khan told Spotlight PA. “When elections are put in doubt, in this case it’s the actual campaign ads … you’re undercutting the sanctity of the process.”

Under the bill, candidates would be able to sue other candidates, political parties, or PACs for “knowingly and intentionally” disseminating deepfakes within 90 days of the election, unless the use of the technology was explicitly disclosed in the content.

The plaintiff could potentially be awarded financial compensation, and the offending candidate could also be subject to a temporary restraining order. While cases are pending, a judge could order the removal of the alleged AI material.

The bill currently sits in the state Senate Communications & Technology Committee.

In a statement, Chair Tracy Pennycuick (R., Montgomery) said she’s “hopeful” that her committee can address the potential use of generative AI to fraudulently misrepresent an election candidate. She did not specify if she would call up the bill.

State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) also did not specify if he would call up the bill on the chamber floor, assuming Pennycuick’s committee passes it.

A spokesperson for the caucus told Spotlight PA, “As technology is evolving, discussions remain ongoing of how to continue to implement AI protections in additional ways.”

BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at spotlightpa.org/donate . Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.