AI accusations mar UK election as candidate forced to defend authenticity: 'I am a real person'

A candidate for the populist Reform UK Party in Britain had to defend himself after allegations that he was not an actual person but in reality an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated candidate put up for election last month.

“I am a real person and that is me in the photo,” Mark Matlock confirmed to British news outlet The Independent. “Though I must admit I am enjoying the free publicity, and when I feel up to it, I will put out a video and prove these rumors that I’m a robot are absolute baloney.”

“I just laughed when I saw it,” he added. “I think it perked me up. I thought, ‘I need to get back out there.’ This is doing more good for me than my campaign, it’s fantastic.”

Reform exceeded expectations in the most recent general election in the United Kingdom, taking 14% of the vote, which only translated to 1% of the seats in Commons – five seats overall – due to the “first past the post” system. 

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The party’s success was enough to deeply impact the ruling Conservative Party’s candidates, splitting the vote in the lowest voter turnout for almost a century, resulting in a near-historic win for the rival Labour Party.

A number of people on social media raised suspicions that Reform had tried to game the system and propped up fake candidates in many constituencies, of which Matlock, who stood in London’s Brixton and Clapham Hill, became the poster boy due to his seemingly artificial appearance. 

Alan Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that “the political mainstream has been looking to catch Reform out – given its shock surge in the polls – for some time” and that AI proved a useful cudgel to do so.

“The surprise factor of the election and the need for Reform to field as many candidates as they could, even in unwinnable seats, provided ample opportunities to do so, and some Reform candidates were indeed exposed for their unpleasant views,” Mendoza argued.

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“The idea of AI candidates was simply an extension of that approach, although it has now been proven completely false,” he noted, adding that more such allegations will arise in cases where an election is called on short notice, leading to “paper candidates” who may never be met by their prospective constituents.

“Of course, were such a candidate to actually win, the whole scheme would collapse, so it is difficult to see the circumstances under which any political party would actually stoop to such lows,” Mendoza said, referring to fully AI-generated candidates. 

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, attends the election count for the Clacton constituency in Clacton-on-Sea, England, on July 5, 2024.  (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Users online pointed to a severe lack of online activity from many of Reform’s candidates and soon started analyzing leaflets and campaign materials they claimed showed AI-generated candidates, Scottish outlet The National reported. 

Green Party candidate Shao-Lan Yuen seized on these allegations and claimed that she hadn’t “seen or heard” from Matlock, running as a rival in his constituency. She mentioned “suspicions” that people said he could be AI-generated, and Independent candidate Jon Key said he saw “no sign” of Matlock on election night. 

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Key claimed that Matlock “doesn’t live in the constituency” and that he had not heard back from an email he sent out, which he had sent to all other candidates he ran against, but Matlock claimed to have illness the night of the election. 

“I got pneumonia three days before election night. I was exercising, taking vitamins so I could attend, but it was just not viable,” Matlock revealed. “On election night, I couldn’t even stand.”

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson, left, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, Reform UK Chair Richard Tice and Reform UK MP James McMurdock are shown at the House of Commons in Westminster, London, on July 9, 2024. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA Images via Getty Images)

Referring to his campaign poster, Matlock explained, “The photo of me was taken outside the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. I had the background removed and replaced with the logo, and they changed the color of my tie.”

“The only reason that was done was because we couldn’t get a photographer at such short notice, but that is me,” he insisted. 

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Matlock told the BBC that he’s received “a lot of nastiness” from people online, calling them “very mean” and dismissing their ridicule as “unnecessary.” The BBC also reported that its own investigation into claims of fake Reform UK candidates revealed “no evidence” of any fraudulent candidates.

Reform did admit that in a last-minute rush to find candidates – due to the surprise snap election decision then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called – and were so “desperate” to find candidates that they ended up recruiting some friends and family to stand for office. 

Leader of Reform UK, MP for Clacton Nigel Farage, chair of Reform UK, MP for Boston and Skegness Richard Tice, and MP for Ashfield Lee Anderson attend a Reform UK press conference on July 5, 2024, in London. (Guy Smallman/Getty Images)

“Basically it’s friends, relations, office workers,” a party spokesperson told reporters. “One of the candidates got their partner to stand.”

The entire episode shows the growing concern over AI’s potential impact on elections as the technology continues to improve. 

A candidate in last year’s Turkish presidential election claimed that Russia released an AI-generated sex tape that was created with deepfake technology using footage “from an Israeli porn site,” The Guardian reported. 

“I do not have such an image, no such sound recording,” Muharrem Ince said before announcing he would drop out following the “character assassination.” “This is not my private life, it’s slander. It’s not real.”

Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts during a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing in 2023 referenced China and its alleged use of deepfake videos to spread propaganda on social media platforms.