Democrat Blake Gendebien is running for the open Congressional seat in northern New York. He sat down recently with North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley to discuss the role of A-I in the campaign, including his opponent's quote "despicable" use of a deepfake video:
Blake Gendebien: I think that we need to be looking at serious guardrails for A-I and make sure that we have rules and regulations around its use. My opponent certainly used it to put words in my mouth. It was a deep fake. I think deep fakes are a big mistake. We have many people over 65 in this district who are confused by A-I. It looks pretty darn real. I mean, a lot of younger people are confused by A-I and A-I makes our young people, like Carmen's and my three boys, it makes them kind of sick. They don't like to see it.
So having a deep fake that my opponent used, saying terrible things, that was despicable and disgusting and showed a terrible, an incredible lack of character and a lack of competency around what needs to be done as a legislator in this district. And those tactics are used to distract people from the fact that (Anthony) Constantino has nothing to say about the increased costs of diesel fuel, fertilizer and gasoline. He has nothing to say about the trade war with Ontario and Quebec and how it hurts our communities. He has nothing to say about taking care of our veterans and our seniors and our hardworking families. So he's going to use A-I deep fakes and anything he can to distract people from what the real issues are.
Bradley: But do you use A-I in your campaign?
Blake Gendebien: We do not currently use A-I in our campaign. Not now, no.
Bradley: It's a complex issue. You mentioned that you believe it should be regulated. How?
Blake Gendebien: Well, have you noticed in the last couple of weeks that even the creators, CEOs, owners of A-I technology are saying, "Geez, I think we better have some guardrails here on what we can do. I actually think this needs to be slowed down.” That's a direct quote from a CEO of a major A-I company and they're looking for the U.S. legislators, Congress, to do something. I believe that's going to be a major issue for this next Congress after the midterms to get our arms wrapped around this A-I technology, slow it down. Because if it gets ahead of us, it could have major national security issues, major economic issues and I would love to be involved in that discussion. I think it's current and very important to this country's future success.
Bradley: Flock cameras has been a huge issue across the country. We saw some flock cameras down in Troy vandalized. What role do you think the federal government should have in addressing the controversies over these Flock cameras?
Blake Gendebien: I think the fact that nobody knew they were there is a terrible thing and it feels like we're being spied on and nobody likes to be spied on. And I think that we need to have a conversation about whether or not they should be there in the first place.
Bradley: Do you think the Flock cameras, in some ways, intersect with the controversies over A-I?
Blake Gendebien: I do. Yes. Flock cameras are unbelievably unpopular. A-I is becoming a huge concern. Facial recognition with those Flock cameras. Nobody wants to feel like they're always being watched. I don't want to be watched. And the data centers are an issue. So I think people are concerned about their privacy. And as a legislator here, I'm going to fight to make sure that our privacy is protected.
Bradley: Immigration and Customs Enforcement - they're still out there arresting and deporting immigrants to the country. What controls, if any, would you move in Congress on ICE?
Blake Gendebien: We're in this mess because Washington has completely failed us. We've had opportunities to have common sense immigration reform and we keep using it as a political football because there are too many legislators that are backed into their corners. I want to be a congressman for New York's 21st district that can have a conversation about common sense immigration reform to make sure that we secure the border, yes. Make sure that we deport violent criminals who are here legally with due process, yes. But what we're forgetting about is streamlining the legal process. We know that we need people from other countries that want to come here to build a better life and help drive our economy and fill jobs that many Americans don't want to do.
As a farmer, I can't ignore the fact that we need people from around the world to do these jobs. We also need highly educated people from around the world to help us out.
In rural America, we had, well just a few weeks ago we had a healthcare roundtable, and what sussed out was that we don't have enough primary care physicians. I don't know if any of the listeners here have ever lost their primary care physician, but boy, is it hard to find another one. And we should be thinking about hardworking, talented individuals from around the world that want to build a wonderful life here in this country to help us get the healthcare that we need in rural America.
So, we need to make sure that we streamline the legal process, as well as have our national security interests at front and center by securing the northern and southern border.
Bradley: President Donald Trump's ratings are quite low. He's hitting some of his most unpopular numbers ever. In a district that has been so red in the past, how much do you think the president's popularity or lack thereof will affect voters when they go to the polls?
Blake Gendebien: An older farmer in our area, who I know has voted for Trump three times, called me up and said, Blake, we have so many issues in the North Country that our families are struggling with and the president just renamed Lake Ontario, Lake America. He has completely lost me.
Washington and the president is not focused on our economy. He's not focused on driving down costs. And it's time that we had someone from rural America who understands that we have winter time and our costs are higher. We drive farther distances. We disproportionately pay the price for bad decisions all the time out of Washington and it's time that we had somebody from the district, born and raised here, raised a family here, represent us.
Bradley: Democrat Blake Gendebien faces Republican Anthony Constantino in the race for New York’s 21st congressional seat.
