Xavier Becerra's film policy is vague. Was it written by AI?
Xavier Becerra's campaign website has a dedicated page on Hollywood. Its 1,600-word policy statement is long — "California is the home of film and television, and we intend to keep it that way" — but short on concrete promises. It may also have been written with AI. According to Pangram, […]
Javier Besra has a page dedicated to Hollywood on his campaign website. The 1,600-word policy statement is long — "California is the home of film and television, and we intend to keep it that way" — but short on concrete promises.
It may also be written with artificial intelligence. According to Pangram, a widely used AI detector, "100% of this text is AI", although the campaign denies this. RELATED STORIES 'The Decision to Leave' Cinematographer Kim Ji-yong on Chasing Natural Light for Lee Chang-dong's 'Possible Love': 'This is where we worried, discussed and planned the most' Netflix hires ex-Disney exec Naomi Bulochnikoff-Paul as director of TV communications.
"These AI evaluators are notoriously inaccurate," Becerra spokesman Jonathan Anderland said. Popular in Variety
Becerra heads into California's gubernatorial race with a 20 percent lead in the polls and a 96 percent chance of victory in the prediction markets. He has declined most requests for an interview and avoided firm commitments on a range of issues from artificial intelligence to housing to electric vehicles.
On the campaign trail, he has made his lack of promises part of his pitch.
"When you're a candidate, it's easy to make all kinds of promises," he said Monday at a stop in Glendale. It's harder to prove that you can act." "Vote for someone who knows how to deliver, because promises are lost after the election."
In introducing Becerra to the crowd, Member of Parliament John Harabedian offered the following statement: "He is someone who under-promises and over-delivers."
If elected, Bekra will face immediate calls to expand state incentives for film and television production, now capped at $750 million a year. Even if Congress passes a federal film incentive, state lawmakers argue that California must do more to compete for film jobs. US Attorney General Rob Bonetta has said he supports a bill that would remove the cap entirely.
"We need to take steps early next year to strengthen that," said Burbank Assemblyman Rick Chavez-Zebor, who is one of Hollywood's best allies in Sacramento. "A number of us have been wanting to remove this program for some time."
Another suggestion is to include "above the line" salaries—actors, directors, etc.—in the program. Such ideas cost a lot—perhaps a lot of money—and must be reconciled with the government's other fiscal priorities.
How does Becerra do it? At Monday's event, the candidate wasn't much more certain than his website.
"I will support anything that helps us keep Hollywood in Hollywood," he said. We have to fight for this industry."
Asked if he supported removing the $750 million cap or including "above the line" spending, he was noncommittal.
"I will sit down with all the legislators to see what kind of proposals come before us, but we will fight."
Becerra's Republican challenger, Steve Hilton, has promised to eliminate the cap and include above-the-line spending. According to Pangram, Hilton's movie policy was also written by artificial intelligence, though because it's shorter and consists more of bulleted lists than complete sentences, it's harder for Pangram to analyze. (Hilton's campaign declined to comment.)
Becerra's film platform includes some AI writing tips, such as making "It's Not This, It's That": "California didn't just produce the film industry. He made it.”
Ironically, it also approves a government mandate to disclose artificial intelligence by manufacturing.
Artificial intelligence was not used in any way to brainstorm or develop the platform, Underland said.
"We don't," he said. We don't talk politics with AI. "We talk to people about politics."
Pangram claims a false positive rate of 1 in 10,000 and claims that the tool is particularly accurate when examining political speeches, with human writing being flagged as AI 0.0% of the time. Independent research has also supported Pangram's accuracy.
Last month, The Economist used Pangram to analyze parliamentary speeches and found that 10% of the words spoken in the British Parliament were produced by artificial intelligence. The use of artificial intelligence was also common in Australia, Canada and the United States. When speakers were asked about it, the most common response was "surprise and denial," the publication reported.
The Hilton Campaign has used artificial intelligence to create campaign ads and has disclosed this use in accordance with state law. In one such ad, an AI-generated Becerra endorses the idea of sending a “vague policy tweet” — “Great idea, but keep it vague like the others. There are not too many details.
Becerra's campaign has said it does not use artificial intelligence in its videos and has criticized Hilton's "change in artificial intelligence." Government AI disclosure requirements cover audio, video and images, but not text.
At a campaign event, Becerra denied that his policy statement was generated by artificial intelligence.
"No, that's completely false," he said.