Nithya Raman voice deepfake — Oct 2026

The campaign for Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman has filed formal ethics complaints against Thrive LA, a super PAC supporting Mayor Karen Bass, alleging the unauthorized use of AI-generated voice impersonation. The controversy centers on a phone-based campaign that the Raman campaign claims misleads voters by using synthetic audio to mimic the candidate without proper disclosure.

What happened

Thrive LA placed signs throughout Los Angeles directing voters to call a phone number advertised as belonging to "Nithya Raman Realty." Callers who dialed the number were greeted by an AI-generated voice that spoke in the first person as Nithya Raman. During a test call, the AI voice responded to inquiries by stating, "I’m as imaginary as my campaign promises" and "Housing policy with worse branding and better self-congratulations." When asked if the voice was intended to sound like Raman, the AI replied, "Yes. That’s the point."

Ana Dahan, executive director of Thrive LA, defended the initiative as a form of political satire, arguing that the synthetic nature of the voice would be obvious to any listener. However, the Raman campaign alleges that the operation violates California laws regarding deceptive election media and campaign disclosure requirements. Specifically, the complaints filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission cite California Elections Code Section 20012, which prohibits the distribution of digitally fabricated audio depicting a candidate saying things they did not say within 30 days of an election. The campaign also cites Government Code Section 84514, which mandates disclosures for political advertisements containing AI-generated or substantially altered content. The Raman campaign asserts that the PAC failed to identify who was paying for the operation or disclose the use of artificial intelligence.