AI transformed a disgraced President, currently under house arrest, into a live avatar for a new election campaign.

      Bolsonaro discovered an AI-generated pathway to re-enter the campaign arena

      Jair M. Bolsonaro's official account on X

      Jair Bolsonaro is barred from participating in Brazil's 2026 presidential election, confined to house arrest and restricted from public communication. However, an AI-constructed version of the former president made an appearance during the campaign launch for his son.

      This synthetic Bolsonaro featured in a video during Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign kickoff in São Paulo. The AI openly stated its artificial origin and expressed support for Flávio as the successor to his father's political legacy. Flávio is vying for the presidency against current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil's upcoming October election.

      The avatar even proclaimed that imprisonment could not extinguish the movement initiated by Bolsonaro. This assertion has since triggered a legal dispute regarding whether AI can serve as a political proxy for someone barred from addressing voters.

      AI may have uncovered a campaign loophole

      This situation is even more “outrageous” than it appears. Jair Bolsonaro is prohibited from public speaking while under house arrest, leading supporters to create this (likely legal) AI video instead. Welcome to 2026. — Brian Winter (@BrazilBrian) July 26, 2026

      A coalition of leftist and center-left parties has petitioned Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court to investigate the video. The complaint contends that election regulations disallow synthetic representations of actual individuals when they can sway voters or compromise electoral integrity.

      Brazilian election laws mandate that campaigns clearly identify synthetic multimedia and reveal the technology used for its creation. They also forbid manipulated material that disseminates false or misleading information that could undermine the electoral process. The Bolsonaro video included an AI disclosure, placing it in a murky legal zone.

      Court president Justice Kassio Nunes Marques stated that AI can be legally utilized in campaigning as long as it is not used to harm individuals. He refrained from commenting specifically on this case until the court reviews it.

      Bolsonaro can remain politically relevant without direct appearances

      Brasília – Deputy Jair Bolsonaro during the enactment of Constitutional Amendment 77, allowing military doctors to work in the SUS (Antonio Cruz/Agência Brasil)

      Bolsonaro has been rendered ineligible for office since Brazil’s electoral authority imposed an eight-year ban in 2023 for the abuse of political authority and the misuse of communication channels during the 2022 election. His current house-arrest conditions also forbid him from delivering political messages directly or through intermediaries. Nevertheless, law professor Ivar Hartmann indicated to Reuters that Bolsonaro might avoid liability if he can prove he neither recorded nor authorized the synthetic message.

      Local reports referenced by Reuters suggested he was not informed in advance about the avatar's appearance. Election-related concerns regarding AI have primarily revolved around deceptive deepfakes portraying candidates making statements they never made. Meanwhile, research has shown AI’s potential to influence voting choices or amplify propaganda.

      Vikhyaat Vivek is a tech journalist with seven years of experience covering consumer hardware, focusing on…

      AI is not solely imposed on us. Even wild monkeys are now being used as a test audience for research

      Researchers at Emory University have developed an AI-driven touchscreen that rewards wild capuchin monkeys with banana slices, enabling them to study how these monkeys think, learn, and solve problems in their environment.

      You may not have requested an AI summary of your inbox or a chatbot integrated into your camera app, yet that’s exactly what has also occurred among the monkeys in Costa Rica's Taboga Forest Reserve. As per a New York Times report, researchers have provided them with a touchscreen system utilizing artificial intelligence to explore how wild capuchins think and learn while keeping them in their natural surroundings.

      Even monkeys are unable to escape the reach of AI now

      AI can transform a cloud of scuba bubbles into an early alert system for divers

      An underwater robot is capable of estimating breathing rates from video footage, though research has not conclusively proven that it can identify stress or distress.

      Researchers at the University of Minnesota have trained an AI-equipped underwater robot to gauge a diver’s breathing rate by observing the bubbles produced with each breath. This contactless approach, detailed in a peer-reviewed study published in The International Journal of Robotics Research, operates with standard camera recordings. Divers don't have to add another sensor to their already accessory-heavy gear.

      Microsoft aims for AI to intercept hackers before any attacks occur

      Microsoft has equipped its AI with a full security team, including red, blue, and green teams.

      With AI now able to create exploits and execute attacks at machine speed, traditional security tools designed for a slower, human-paced environment are becoming outdated. Microsoft believes it has found a solution, naming it Project Perception.