Republican lawmakers caught some attention this weekend when they shared a purported image of a rescued U.S. service member who was piloting an F-15 that was shot down over Iran.
There was just one teeny, glaring, major problem—the image was entirely AI-generated.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and New York Rep. Mike Lawler all circulated the fake photo before backtracking and deleting their posts. However, there were plenty of screenshots to make sure they didn’t forget their misstep.
“This is so awesome,” Abbott tweeted alongside a repost of the photo, suggesting that he had no clue it was fake.
Of course, the Texas governor has fallen victim to things like this before.
Just last month, Abbott reposted and then swiftly deleted footage that a pro-MAGA account claimed was actual video depicting a U.S. battleship shooting down an Iranian plane. It was later reported that the footage actually came from the video game “War Thunder.”
But that didn’t stop Abbott from blasting it out to his 1.4 million followers with the snarky caption “Bye bye.”
Now, let’s collectively take a moment to laugh before we move on to the bigger picture.
Unfortunately, Abbott and others’ trigger-happy reshare habits are extremely common and, with the continued growth of AI, also a rising concern.
Related | Trump clears the way for pervy AI to exploit kids
A growing number of people are disseminating and receiving misinformation from the closed circles of their group chats and algorithms, according to the Poynter Institute.
And while those seeking to inform are trying to reach every corner of the internet to keep facts at the frontlines, AI—whether motivated by malice or just plain naivete—spreads faster.
On top of that, the Trump administration has no interest in putting any kind of safety measures in place with AI. Since taking office, President Donald Trump and his team have been adamant about beating China and other countries in the race to be the so-called AI capital of the world.
In his pursuit, the president has deterred states from putting their own laws in place—but not without a fight. States like California have already started drafting their own legislation to protect children from nefarious AI programs and practices, despite Trump’s demands to be hands-off.
The White House even issued a warning letter to Utah in February when lawmakers drafted an AI transparency and child safety bill. That, ultimately, snuffed out those efforts.
“There is not even a real attempt to legislate on the federal level, and it’s as if they don’t want Big Tech to be inconvenienced,” Louis Blessing, a Republican state senator in Ohio, told The New York Times. “I find that deeply offensive.”
Blessing garnered dozens of GOP signatures and wrote a letter to the White House demanding the Trump administration let states regulate AI.
With the AI-generated genie out of the bottle, a bipartisan desire to reel in this misinformation machine before it goes too far just keeps growing.
Alix Breeden April 6, 2026 at 11:30PM From Daily Kos
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