This article was compiled by the editorial desk, drawing on the Philadelphia Inquirer’s investigation, NBC10’s official statement, and the campaign’s public admission.

Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal’s reelection campaign has acknowledged that dozens of glowing news articles posted on its website were fabricated using OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer. The admission came days after the newspaper’s investigation revealed that the stories—attributed to local outlets like the Inquirer and NBC10—could not be found in any archive or search by their publication dates and headlines.

The campaign’s unsigned statement, provided to the Inquirer, said an “outside consultant” used ChatGPT to generate the articles, which were designed to highlight the sheriff’s “record of accomplishment during her time in office.” The statement added that the chatbot was fed “talking points” and produced the stories based on those prompts, a process that can lead to “hallucinations,” where the AI confidently invents false details.

Bilal, who won reelection in November, has been a polarizing figure since first taking office in 2019. She campaigned on a promise to “remove the dark cloud” of corruption from the sheriff’s department, but has since faced accusations ranging from running a “slush fund” to allegations of abuse and retaliation. The fabricated articles, however, painted a far rosier picture, presenting the sheriff as a successful leader without any hint of controversy.

How the Fabrication Was Exposed

The Inquirer’s initial investigation, published earlier this week, found that the campaign website contained 31 headlines that appeared to be from legitimate news organizations. But when reporters tried to locate the original stories, they came up empty. A spokesperson for NBC10, Diana Torralvo, confirmed that the station had no such story about Bilal, noting that a similar segment about free gun locks was actually done in 2016, before Bilal took office.

The campaign’s admission, while terse, raises more questions than it answers. Who was the consultant? Why was the work not fact-checked? And was the use of AI a deliberate choice or a shortcut? The sheriff’s office has not responded to media requests, including from Futurism, leaving those questions unresolved.

This incident is part of a broader concern about the use of generative AI in political campaigns. While AI tools can be used to draft speeches or social media posts, their ability to produce convincing but false content—especially when presented as news—poses a risk to public trust. The case in Philadelphia is a concrete example of how AI can be misused, even if the intent was to boost a candidate’s image.

For now, the fabricated articles have been removed from the campaign website, but the damage may already be done. Voters who saw the stories may have been misled, and the incident adds another layer of scrutiny to Bilal’s already contentious tenure. The lack of transparency from the campaign only deepens the concern, as the public is left with more questions than answers about how the AI-generated content came to be.