\u201cOakland first,\u201d Pechenuk narrates \u2014 right after the city\u2019s skyline, confusingly featuring San Francisco\u2019s Transamerica Pyramid, flashes on the screen.<\/p>\n
More than any other local candidate, Pechenuk has embraced artificial intelligence as a tool for political advertising this election cycle. But if you look closely, you\u2019ll see artificially generated visuals and music cropping up elsewhere in Oakland political materials, too. You\u2019ve probably spotted images with that uncanny sheen; heard music that\u2019s perfectly on pitch but perhaps lacking in soul.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a noticeable shift from previous election cycles. Even as recently as the special election in 2025, AI was less prolific, less accessible, and less accurate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Experts say<\/a> the increasing use of artificial intelligence to create campaign materials presents candidates and committees with opportunities and risks.<\/p>\n Consultant says AI ads can undermine campaigns <\/p>\n Ahead of the Los Angeles mayoral primary in June, candidate Spencer Pratt made national headlines<\/a> for sharing eye-catching AI ads seemingly created by supporters. The most viral video portrayed Pratt as Batman combating armed DSA members, while the incumbent mayor, Karen Bass, appeared as the Joker presiding over a decadent Democrat dinner party.<\/p>\n Pechenuk \u2014 a Republican like Pratt \u2014 also portrays herself as a superhero (\u201cMighty Mindy\u201d) in AI-generated graphics directly referencing him<\/a>.<\/p>\n An AI-generated political ad from Mindy Pechenuk\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have absolute control \u2014 that\u2019s what\u2019s so beautiful,\u201d Pechenuk said in an interview about her use of AI. \u201cIf you don\u2019t like what it came up with, you can correct it.\u201d She said she\u2019s used the programs Grok, Abacus AI, and ChatGPT.\u00a0<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence tools are also relatively inexpensive. In the mayoral race, incumbent Barbara Lee has vastly outraised her challengers<\/a>. Most lesser-known and grassroots campaigns don\u2019t have the budgets to hire professional graphic designers or video editors. In this way, artificial intelligence can help level the playing field.\u00a0<\/p>\n But longtime Bay Area political consultant Jim Ross said AI presents three clear risks for campaigns. The first is a big one.<\/p>\n \u201cIt kills credibility,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A study by the nonpartisan American Association of Political Consultants Foundation<\/a> found that political ads featuring disclaimers that the content was created with AI \u201cmeasurably increase mistrust and skepticism toward the advertised message.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n California has a law<\/a> requiring politicians and campaigns to disclose, in most cases, whether they\u2019ve partially or entirely used AI to create ads. Many states have enacted similar laws, in a broader attempt to reduce misinformation and increase transparency in politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n But many California candidates fail to include the required disclaimers \u2014 sometimes to avoid the hit to their credibility, said Ross, and sometimes out of ignorance.<\/p>\n When we asked Pechenuk why her ads didn\u2019t include the required disclosures, she said she\u2019d look into the rules, and then ended up adding several disclaimers on her website during our conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second reason is it\u2019s frequently wrong,\u201d said Ross about why he thinks campaigns should avoid AI-generated ads. He recalled working on a San Francisco supervisor\u2019s campaign and, out of curiosity, asking Anthropic\u2019s Claude AI to write a bio for a candidate. The bot produced an impressive resum\u00e9.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, wow, this is amazing that he did all of this,\u201d Ross said. \u201cI asked it to give me the sources. It said, \u2018Well, these would be normal duties you\u2019d expect of a supervisor.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For Pechenuk, however, the explicit goal in her videos is not to portray Oakland as it realistically looks today, but how she envisions it in the future, she said, with shimmering streets, thriving businesses, and plentiful jobs.<\/p>\n But even this made-up Oakland world of the future has comedic flaws.<\/p>\n In a video<\/a> where Pechenuk lambasts Oakland\u2019s low literacy rate, the screen portrays a child poring over a book \u2014 whose cover ironically features a nonsensical, AI-generated mish-mash of letter-like shapes in lieu of a title. (Yes, the TransAm Pyramid makes an appearance in Oakland\u2019s skyline in this ad too.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Problems with accuracy aren\u2019t unique to AI, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere used to be people who\u2019d outsource video and web production overseas, Ross said. \u201cEvery cycle there\u2019s a campaign that uses a piece of stock footage and you look at it like, that\u2019s in Europe!\u201d<\/p>\n Lastly, he said, AI\u2019s frequent sameness or genericness can undermine a candidate\u2019s ability to stand out, which he called \u201cthe most important thing in campaigns and politics these days.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n AI used in political graphics, videos, songs, and websites in Oakland <\/p>\n Fabian Robinson didn\u2019t qualify to appear on the ballot as a candidate for the District 6 City Council race, but he said that\u2019s not slowing down his effort to oust the incumbent, Council President Kevin Jenkins, from his East Oakland seat.<\/p>\n Robinson, who is running a write-in campaign, posts prolifically on social media, including several video montages<\/a> set to an AI-generated song that promotes him and criticizes current leadership.<\/p>\n The song features the memorable line Town stinkin\u2019, smell like Kevin Jenkins.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking with The Oaklandside, Robinson claimed he used artificial intelligence out of concern for the incumbent\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n \u201cI could have had several rappers do it,\u201d he said, \u201cbut if they would have done it, it would have turned into conflict.\u201d Though he said a rapper friend did write the diss about Jenkins.<\/p>\n Calling AI \u201csmart\u201d and typically accurate, Robinson said he embraces technology in his political pursuits. \u201cI love Instagram, Facebook \u2014 I don\u2019t do my campaign like everybody else,\u201d he said. AI, he said, is \u201cbetter than a campaign manager\u201d and is only used nefariously when it falls into the rare wrong hands.<\/p>\n Robinson emphasized that he\u2019s in the field knocking on doors too, campaigning for public safety in D6.<\/p>\n We sent his song to Jenkins to hear his reaction. He wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat shit was trash. AI-generated trash,\u201d Jenkins wrote in an email. \u201cWhat a waste of water. No need for me to get in the [recording] booth and respond.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Another music video<\/a> making the rounds features an AI-generated avatar of Oakland mayoral candidate Brenda Grisham. In the video, set to a rousing gospel-style song called \u201cLet\u2019s Come Together,\u201d AI-Grisham distributes meals, attends a community safety meeting and a vigil at a homeless camp, and appears to oversee crews of volunteers cleaning streets and painting over graffiti \u2014 all while singing about unity and love.\u00a0<\/p>\n The video was originally posted by musician Grady L. Harris and reposted by Grisham. While the song and video don\u2019t mention the election, the caption by Harris says she\u2019s adopted it as her campaign\u2019s theme song.<\/p>\n Grisham told The Oaklandside it\u2019s not a campaign ad. She said Harris, who\u2019s her friend, unexpectedly wrote the song and set it to AI visuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGrady\u2019s video was great, he surprised me,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I would never personally go that route.\u201d She said she uses AI tools like Canva to design signs for her own business but wouldn\u2019t artificially generate images of herself for her campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a people person \u2014 I\u2019m in the community,\u201d said Grisham, a public safety advocate who co-led the 2024 recall campaign<\/a> against former DA Pamela Price. \u201cThe AI videos are just made-up stuff. I want the real stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, the music video shows lots of made-up stuff, like something called the Oakland Community Hall and a liquor store labeled Laquor. But comments on the video indicate that at least one viewer didn\u2019t realize it was AI, demonstrating the potential for misinformation. <\/p>\n \u201cI wish I knew ahead of time when you are doing events for the homeless,\u201d the commenter wrote. \u201cI would try to make it there!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The most prolific use of AI in Oakland politics so far hasn\u2019t come from any politician or official campaign. Rather, it\u2019s from a somewhat shadowy source.<\/p>\n Earlier this summer, a PAC called Americans for Opportunity, registered to a young political consultant from Piedmont, published a series of websites and social media accounts<\/a> attacking Bay Area politicians and weighing in on ballot measures. The websites and posts are replete with AI-generated images, many of Oakland leaders \u2014 such as one of Mayor Barbara Lee wearing something resembling a kente cloth and drinking champagne in the back of a limo with a local businessperson who\u2019s facing corruption charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n While we couldn\u2019t reach the person behind these images, one of the accounts appeared to respond to our article about him with an AI-generated image of an Oaklandside reporter taking money from politicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n The AI industry is coming to Oakland \u2014 and not just in the form of political ads<\/p>\n For Pechenuk, artificial intelligence is not only an advertising tool but also the product of an industry she\u2019d want to attract as mayor. To her, it\u2019s purely another technological development we\u2019ll eventually rely on, like the lightbulb or the TV.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think people should be afraid of AI coming into Oakland,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you think about what physical AI does in manufacturing, it\u2019s amazing. When you look at auto production, mining, it has such advanced capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Pechenuk argued that AI will create jobs rather than destroy them, if done right: \u201cPeople have to create it, they have to program it, they have to run it.\u201d (There are conflicting studies and analyses<\/a> on the current and future impacts of AI on job loss.)<\/p>\n The San Francisco Business Times recently reported that Jeff Bezos\u2019 physical AI startup, Prometheus, is renting warehouse space in West Oakland. So is Tesla\u2019s automated vehicle arm.<\/p>\n The news came at the same time as the revelation that a developer is seeking to install a data center in a downtown Oakland building. Together, these announcements<\/a> caused a flurry of speculation, excitement, confusion, and concern about the impacts on Oakland\u2019s workforce, housing costs<\/a>, and environment.<\/p>\n As mayor, Barbara Lee has largely embraced the expansion of the tech industry in Oakland. She recently obtained funding for a city staffer<\/a> focused on making it easier for \u201cmission-driven\u201d startups to do business in the city. This week, she posted Instagram photos<\/a> where she\u2019s posing with a humanoid robot developed by a company called Formic<\/a>, which she says recently opened in Oakland.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re building an economy that competes on the world stage,\u201d she wrote in the caption.<\/p>\n As for political advertising, the videos and flyers in the 2028 and 2030 races will probably be more accurate and harder to distinguish from reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Ross thinks the real advantage AI provides campaigns is not found in the visuals but in its ability to process and act on large amounts of data. According to him, voters might expect to see ultra-targeted political ads in the future \u2014 created and disseminated in seconds by bots and totally different from the ones fed simultaneously to your brother, colleague, or friend.<\/p>\n “*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n \t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ai-ad-mindy-1600x1043.jpg\")
An AI-generated ad about literacy ironically shows a book with an incomprehensible title. Credit: Screenshot from Pechenuk campaign ad<\/p>\n![\"IMG_4755\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_4755.jpg\")
Behring Companies plans to transform a building at 415 20th St. into a data center supporting AI. Credit: Darwin BondGraham\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n