DENVER (KKTV) – Colorado’s attorney general issued a warning Monday morning about “deepfakes.”

Attorney General Phil Weiser says the public needs to be on the lookout for election misinformation and disinformation in the form of realistic-looking images, videos, and audio created using artificial intelligence, known as “deepfakes.” You can see a public advisory that was issued at the bottom of this article.

This year, lawmakers passed and Gov. Polis signed into law HB24-1147. The new law requires anyone using AI to create communications to voters featuring images, videos, or audio of candidates for office to include a disclaimer explaining that the content is not real. Failure to provide such a disclaimer can result in fines and other penalties.

“Because images, videos, and audio created with artificial intelligence are becoming difficult to distinguish from the real thing, you should be cautious when forming opinions based on what you see and hear online, on TV, and receive in the mail,” said Weiser. “The sad reality is that even AI-powered tools designed to detect these deepfakes have difficulty catching them. I encourage voters to do your research, get your news and information from trusted sources, and be mindful that the sophistication of AI means you can’t always believe what you see and hear anymore.”

In the public advisory Weiser issued, he lays out what voters, candidates, and campaigns need to know about the new law:

• Any visual or audio communication regarding candidates for office using deepfake images, audio, video, or multimedia are prohibited unless properly disclosed.
• The required disclosures must be clear and conspicuous. A disclaimer notifying voters that the content “has been edited and depicts speech or conduct that falsely appears to be authentic or truthful” must be displayed or otherwise appear in the communication, and the law provides for exact font sizes and other requirements.
• Exceptions to the law include protections for outlets that discuss deepfake material in news stories, so long as the broadcast makes clear the content includes a deepfake. Additionally, radio and television broadcast stations are exempt if they run political advertisements that contain deepfakes that lack proper disclaimers. The law also exempts satires and parodies.
• Violations can result in legal action to prevent dissemination of the deepfake in question, and violators could be subject to financial liabilities or even criminal penalties.

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A Colorado state trooper was shot and wounded in a senseless, “targeted” attack while parked on the side of a highway Saturday and still managed to kill the suspect in a shootout, authorities said.

Cpl. Tye Simcox encountered “evil” when the gunman randomly began firing on the 16-year state law enforcement vet as he slowly drove by the officer’s patrol car parked in the median of Highway 36 in the Denver suburb of Westminster.

The gunman continued his brazen shooting with a semi-automatic handgun after he pulled his Chevrolet pickup truck over to the left side of the highway and got out of his car, chief of the state patrol, Matthew Packard, said during a press conference.

“Our trooper exited his patrol car and immediately began to return fire … and was able to strike and ultimately kill the suspect that was attacking him,” Packard said, noting Simcox used his rifle during the shootout.

Simcox was struck in the lower right arm and applied a tourniquet to the gunshot wound before he was taken to the hospital. He was released later Saturday.

“Our member was targeted today by a man that intended to kill him and that is shocking and unacceptable,” Packard said.

“But our Colorado state trooper responded appropriately and swiftly and courageously and he won today. And by winning, not only did he save his own life, but he saved the rest of this community from someone that clearly intended to do evil.”

The identity of the suspect was not yet released by authorities.

Packard emphatically praised his trooper.

“He looked at the face of evil and responded appropriately and won,” he said.

Officials in Colorado have agreed to drop all charges against the landlord of the Aurora apartment complex that has been at the center of the violent Venezuelan gang takeover controversy, according to a report.

In records obtained by the Denver Gazette, an agreement between the city and Nome Partners details that city officials agreed to drop dozens of charges against the Aspen Grove apartment complex landlord for failing to maintain the property.

The charges against the landlord also stem from his other property, which was shown in a viral video where members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), the violent Venezuelan migrant gang, took over an apartment by busting down the door with heavy artillery. 

The agreement states that in exchange for dropping charges, Baumgarten agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial and Nome Partners LLC agreed to sell or lease the property, and, among other things, pay up to $60,000 of the costs to clean up and secure the complex, 9News reported. 

ICE CONFIRMS AURORA, COLORADO GANG MEMBERS ARE IN THE UNITED STATES ILLEGALLY, RELEASED BY BIDEN ADMIN

Baumgarten’s company also blamed the TdA gang takeover for causing the Aspen Grove apartments to deteriorate into unlivable conditions.

One investor told The Denver Post that police knew about the gang problem for nearly a year. 

In letters obtained by the Denver Gazette, the investor said the situation had gotten so out of control that they reached out to local officials seeking help to remove the TdA members, which the lawyer claimed had “forcibly taken control” of the property.

The property’s landlord also inquired about hiring off-duty police officers to provide security for the property, a request that the Aurora Police Department reportedly declined.

VENEZUELAN GANG’S ALLEGED TAKEOVER OF AURORA, COLORADO APARTMENTS BEGAN IN 2023: REPORT

Four Venezuelan nationals were confirmed to be in the United States illegally in a statement provided to Fox News by ICE. (Aurora Police Department, Eduard Romero)

“He was told we didn’t have the staffing to provide adequate security at all his properties,” Joe Moylan, an Aurora police spokesperson told the Gazette in a statement. 

Rep. Greg Lopez, R-Colo., is pushing the Biden administration to crack down on the presence of illegal immigrants involved with gangs inside the U.S and introduced a new bill last week to combat migrant gangs. 

If passed, the bill would compel the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary to issue detainers for migrants who are known by law enforcement to be affiliated with a gang.

It is one of several bills House Republicans have introduced since reports of crime by illegal immigrants have piled up in cities and towns across the U.S.

“Under your leadership, the United States has lost control of our southern border,” Lopez wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday urging him to “immediately issue a directive” to the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office “to aggressively apprehend, detain and deport any members of TdA or other known foreign criminal gangs, located in the state of Colorado” with a specific focus on Denver suburbs like Aurora.

TREN DE ARAGUA GANG MEMBERS ARRESTED IN AURORA, COLORADO IN CONNECTION TO APARTMENT BUILDING TAKEOVER: POLICE

Former Congressman and current Mayor of Aurora, Colorado Mike Coffman joined America Reports on Thursday to update the nation on Venezuelan gangs in his city. (Edward Romero, Getty Images, Danielle Jurinsky)

“With millions of encounters every year, criminal networks including Tren de Aragua have taken advantage of the situation and are wreaking havoc on our communities.”

Illegal immigrants have been accused in multiple high-profile killings in the U.S. this year, including Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray.

Federal officials believe TdA is operating in the metro Denver area and terrorizing several apartment complexes around the city and neighboring suburbs. However, local politicians continue to insist that the “hysteria” surrounding concerns about Venezuelan gang members taking over apartment buildings was “overblown” by the media.

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Aurora law enforcement officials are also denying that there has been a gang takeover.

“We’ve been talking to the residents here and learning from them to find out what exactly is going on, and there’s definitely a different picture,” Interim Aurora Police Chief Heather Morris said in a Facebook video, according to USA Today. “I’m not saying that there’s not gang members that don’t live in this community.”

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.