Fort Bend County Judge Race Sparks Controversy Over AI Endorsement Video

A viral endorsement video from Fort Bend County has triggered debate over artificial intelligence in elections, FOX 26 Houston reported. The controversy centers on the county judge race between Republican interim County Judge Daniel Wong and Democratic challenger County Commissioner Dexter McCoy. The disputed video depicts individuals endorsing Wong, with audio praising his personal support.

McCoy condemned the video, arguing that it misrepresents real community members without their permission. "Unfortunately, those images that were taken to make a video, folks were made to say things that they never consented to do," McCoy said. "They were completely exploited in this sort of situation, and that's disgusting." McCoy said he is calling on the local district attorney to conduct a criminal inquiry into the incident; FOX 26 reached out to the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, which confirmed it has not received any formal complaints.

Following the backlash, Wong's campaign took down the video and said it was not produced by the campaign: "The video that has purportedly stirred 'outrage' among Democrats was actually created by a Democrat. It was shared with the campaign, but it was not produced by the campaign. It has now been removed from the campaign's social media platforms." Bobby Eberle, communications director for Wong, said the featured individuals were genuine supporters whose likenesses were enhanced using AI tools. "I talked to the creator of the video today, and he told me that he received consent," Eberle said. "Obviously, it's AI-generated, we all know that, but he said he received consent from those people. They are supporters."

McCoy answered the campaign's response directly: "As a leader, you accept responsibility for anything that you or your organization does. The buck stops with you as a leader. And for Daniel Wong to try to shift blame, it's what we have come to expect." FOX 26 said it has not been able to make contact with the individuals depicted in the video and is actively seeking to speak with them. The station's tech expert, Juan Guevara Torres, recommends running questionable media through digital verification platforms before sharing it - one measure of how hard authentic and AI-generated footage have become to tell apart on standard social feeds.