Bolsonaro found an AI-shaped route back onto the campaign stage Beto Oliveira / Câmara dos Deputados
Jair Bolsonaro is barred from Brazil’s 2026 presidential election, being confined to house arrest and restricted from communicating publicly. But an AI-generated version of the former president still managed to take the stage at his son’s campaign launch.
The synthetic Bolsonaro appeared in a video at the launch of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign in São Paulo. It openly identified itself as AI-generated before endorsing Flávio as the person chosen to carry forward his father’s political movement. Flávio is running against incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil’s October election.
The avatar even declared that prison could not silence the movement Bolsonaro had created. This message has now sparked a legal challenge over whether AI can act as a political surrogate for someone prohibited from addressing voters.
AI may have created a campaign loophole
This is even more “crazy ass” than it seems. Jair Bolsonaro banned from speaking publicly under terms of house arrest, so supporters made this (apparently legal) AI video instead. Welcome to 2026 https://t.co/ToBwfM6O2v
— Brian Winter (@BrazilBrian) July 26, » More Info >>>
