Baltimore County Councilman Julian Jones speaks out against A.I.-generated picture of him

In a matter of days, offensive A.I. images circulated on social media involving two Baltimore-area government leaders.

With the emergence of A.I., photos and videos have been used both for and against politicians. This time, Baltimore County Councilman Julian Jones became a target. 

In an election year, Jones is running for the county executive.

"Shocked and deeply disturbed"

The meme circulating of Jones depicts him wearing a Keffiyeh, donning a mustache like Hitler, and saluting like a Nazi. It seemingly portrays Jones against the Jewish community.

"To be quite frank, I was totally shocked and deeply disturbed by the image," said Jones.

Jones said he did not know about the picture until it was sent to him by multiple people.

"Someone is using this image to exploit legitimate fears of the Jewish community," said Jones. "They're using it to weaponize against my campaign."

A.I-generated photo of Baltimore's mayor

All of this comes as an A.I. picture was also posted on Facebook of Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott by the city's inspector general, Isabel Cumming.

The Mayor and IG are currently in a court battle over access to city records.

On Wednesday, Cumming apologized for the post in a statement, a day after the mayor's chief of staff wrote a letter to the city ethics board raising concerns over the post.

The Jewish community responds

With the meme aimed at swaying Jewish voters, in rotation, Howard Libit, the Executive Director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, says political races should be won fair and square.

"The meme is despicable, whether it's about Councilman Jones or anyone else in the race," Libit said.

Libit does not believe the photo will have any effect at the ballot box.

"I'd like to think that the voters of Baltimore County, Jewish or not, are more sophisticated than that and can't be swayed by what's obviously fake," Libit said. 

Jones calls on politicians to condemn negative A.I. memes

Jones hopes that seeing both negative political memes on social media will draw the attention of both sides of the aisle to denounce these types of political attacks.