Nathan Berning Apologizes for AI Ad Using 2021-Deceased Haunani-Kay Trask

1 articles · Updated · Hawaii News Now · Aug 25

Nathan Berning said a 30-second campaign ad that used an AI-generated image and voice of Haunani-Kay Trask will be reworked after falsely depicting the late activist endorsing him.
Berning also withdrew his earlier claim that the woman in the ad was a model, after Hawaii Public Radio reported the image was a widely recognized photo of Trask, who died in 2021.
Mililani Trask called the ad fraud on voters and said Berning knowingly used her sister’s likeness to deliver an anti-abortion message alongside a graphic fetus image.
State Rep. Scot Matayoshi said Hawaii’s new Act 247 could let Trask’s family sue over the misuse of her image, a risk lawmakers anticipated when passing the AI-altered image law.
Berning, who got fewer than 1,000 primary votes but reached the general-election ballot, is part of a wider anti-abortion ad push tied to PAC organizer Randall Terry and 10 other candidates.