An election complaint levied against a Multnomah County campaign photo purportedly altered with artificial intelligence has created another possible test case for a new state law.
“Don’t Rank Julia,” a political action committee formed to oppose Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards’ run for county chair, is facing scrutiny from the Oregon Secretary of State’s office for posting a photo online of Brim-Edwards that appears to have been edited with AI.
The PAC, which posted the photo on its website and Instagram account, did not disclose that the photo was generated with AI – which may be required under a 2024 state law.
An undated photo of Julia Brim-Edwards.
Eli Imadali / OPB
“It is deeply disturbing to see another woman’s likeness appropriated without her consent and used against her in this way,” said Bobbie Regan, a Portland political consultant and former Portland Public School board member, who filed a complaint with the state Monday over the image. “The failure to include the legally required disclosure makes this all the more troubling.”
Regan has endorsed Brim-Edwards and donated to her campaign.
The photo appears to resemble a video still from a 2023 KGW interview with Brim-Edwards, where she’s wearing the same clothing and has a similar backdrop. Yet Brim-Edwards’ complexion is more ashen and her expression is solemn and joyless – a look not captured in her TV interview. And the leaves of the trees in the background of the interview have faded from green to brown.
In her complaint, Regan writes, “To those of us who know Julia, what is most immediately noticeable about the photo is the dour look on her face—uncharacteristic for someone usually seen smiling. A closer examination reveals that the photograph seems to have aged her too; not only is she scowling but she appears to be a woman 15-20 years older than Julia actually is.”
OPB reviewed the photo’s metadata, which indicates that it was “made with Google AI.” OPB also ran the photo through two online AI-detecting services, both of which indicated the photo was AI-generated.
AI-GENERATED CONTENT - This screenshot shows a post from the "Don't Rank Julia" political action committee that opposes Julia Brim-Edwards' candidacy for Multnomah County chair. The image of the politician was posted on the PAC's website and critics say it was generated with AI.
Screenshot from "Don't Rank Julia"
Jackie Yerby is the director of the Don’t Rank Julia campaign. She did not respond to OPB’s request for comment. Diane Goodwin, a top donor for the Don’t Rank Julia PAC who has helped the campaign place media ads, did. On Tuesday, she told OPB that said the campaign volunteer who designed the website told her the photo was “edited in Photoshop, not AI.” Goodwin said the designer wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from Brim-Edwards.
After OPB alerted Goodwin of the complaint Tuesday, Don’t Rank Julia removed the photo from its website. As of Wednesday afternoon, the photo is still up on the campaign’s Instagram page.
On its website, the PAC supports both of Brim-Edwards’ opponents, Commissioner Shannon Singleton and Sharon Meieran. Yerby and Goodwin are both closely involved with Portland For All, a political advocacy group that has endorsed Singleton.
Brim-Edwards also made that connection in an email to OPB.
“To have Shannon Singleton’s supporters use AI to weaponize a woman’s own image against her as part of a smear campaign is deeply troubling, and what they’ve done here looks like a clear violation of law,” she wrote. “This is a desperate and underhanded tactic that erodes public confidence in our elections.”
In an email to OPB, Singleton said her campaign has no involvement with the PAC.
“The first time I saw this photo was when OPB sent it to me,” she wrote. “Every political entity should comply with all applicable laws and be held accountable if they do not. If it turns out this image is not in compliance, then whoever is responsible should follow the law.”
A spokesperson with the secretary of state’s office said it doesn’t know whether it will investigate the complaint.
An investigation could help bring clarity to a still nascent law.
The 2024 law requires a disclaimer for AI-assisted campaign materials that creates “a materially different understanding or impression than a reasonable person would have from the unaltered, original version of the image, audio recording or video recording.”
The state has only investigated two complaints alleging a candidate violated this law.
One was into former GOP congressional candidate Jonathan Lockwood’s campaign, which is still ongoing.
The state has resolved an investigation into Brooke West, a former candidate for the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners. In that case, West didn’t disclose that she had used AI to edit some of her campaign photos – smoothing her hair, brightening her eyes, adding a construction firm logo to a baseball hat. The state elections division determined this didn’t violate the state law, because the “altered images would not produce a materially different understanding or impression” than the original, unaltered images.
The complaint about the Don’t Rank Julia PAC lands as another local AI-related campaign issue grabs headlines. Washington County Commissioner Nafisa Fai, who is running for county chair, faced criticism last week after a video circulated of her speaking at a Minnesota event appeared to show her standing in front of an upside-down American flag.
On Monday, the Oregon Journalism Project reported that the video was AI-edited. They shared a screenshot they said Fai provided of the flag being right-side up. A day later, the news outlet had retracted its entire story, citing concerns that the right-side-up image might also be fake. By then, the outlet said the screenshot had come from a “Fai campaign supporter,” not the campaign itself.
Nonetheless, the secretary of state’s office has received at least three complaints alleging that Fai’s campaign broke state law by manipulating the photo.
The state has not decided whether it will investigate these complaints.
