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https://www.productionai.institute/graph/events/evt-aiid-1557

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Production AI Institute public record · AI Incident Database: Former New York City Council Candidate Jonathan Rinaldi Allegedly Used AI to Create False Endorsements and Fabricated News Reports · observed 2026-06-25
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AI Incident Database: Former New York City Council Candidate Jonathan Rinaldi Allegedly Used AI to Create False Endorsements and Fabricated News Reports

Queens prosecutors alleged that former City Council candidate Jonathan Rinaldi used AI during his 2025 campaign to manufacture the appearance of political support through posts made to resemble authentic endorsements and news coverage. The material reportedly attributed backing to public figures and institutions that had not provided it and falsely claimed that opponent Lynn Schulman had withdrawn. Rinaldi was charged with forgery and possession of forged instruments.

AI Incident Database · Incident 1557

Operator lens (medium): inspect D2 (output validation), D6 (autonomy oversight).

Confidence
78%
Sources
2
Entities
37
Detected
detected 22d ago

Event summary

Queens prosecutors alleged that former City Council candidate Jonathan Rinaldi used AI during his 2025 campaign to manufacture the appearance of political support through posts made to resemble authentic endorsements and news coverage. The material reportedly attributed backing to public figures and institutions that had not provided it and falsely claimed that opponent Lynn Schulman had withdrawn. Rinaldi was charged with forgery and possession of forged instruments.

D2D6

Linked entities

  • synthetic-video-generation-technology-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • OpenAI

    vendor | 70%

  • image-generation-technology-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • Google

    vendor | 70%

  • face-swapping-technology-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • deepfake-technology-developers

    organisation | 70%

  • political-candidates

    organisation | 70%

  • political-campaigns

    organisation | 70%

  • jonathan-rinaldi

    organisation | 70%

  • voters-in-new-york-city-council-district-29

    organisation | 70%

  • voters-in-new-york

    organisation | 70%

  • voters

    organisation | 70%

  • the-amsterdam-news

    organisation | 70%

  • social-media-users

    organisation | 70%

  • robert-holden

    organisation | 70%

  • queens-jewish-alliance

    organisation | 70%

  • public-institutions

    organisation | 70%

  • police-departments

    organisation | 70%

  • people-falsely-attributed-as-authors

    organisation | 70%

  • p.s.-101-school-in-queens

    organisation | 70%

  • organizations-falsely-represented-as-political-endorsers

    organisation | 70%

  • nonprofit-organizations

    organisation | 70%

  • news-organizations

    organisation | 70%

  • new-york-post

    organisation | 70%

  • new-york-daily-news

    organisation | 70%

  • new-york-city-police-department-112th-precinct

    organisation | 70%

  • new-york-city-police-department

    organisation | 70%

  • lynn-schulman

    organisation | 70%

  • instagram-users

    organisation | 70%

  • facebook-users

    organisation | 70%

  • epistemic-integrity

    organisation | 70%

  • elected-officials

    organisation | 70%

  • educational-communities

    organisation | 70%

  • democratic-integrity

    organisation | 70%

  • daniel-kurzyna

    organisation | 70%

  • cnn

    organisation | 70%

  • asian-wave-alliance

    organisation | 70%

Related graph edges

EdgeTypeConfidence
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d1maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d2maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d4maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d4maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d4maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d6maps to60%
ent-vendor-google to ent-psf-d6maps to60%

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Event dates

  • Happened 17 Jan 2025

  • Detected 25 June 2026

Sources

  • AI Incident Database - Incident 1557

    secondary | checked 9 July 2026

    Open source
  • Former City Council Candidate Charged With Forgery for Disseminating Altered Political Endorsements and Phony News Repo…

    secondary | checked 25 June 2026

    Open source
Cite this record

"AI Incident Database: Former New York City Council Candidate Jonathan Rinaldi Allegedly Used AI to Create False Endorsements and Fabricated News Reports." https://www.productionai.institute/graph/events/evt-aiid-1557 (observed 2025-01-17; retrieved 2026-07-17). PAI.

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