South Dakota law prohibits the distribution of AI-generated political video within ninety days of an election unless it carries a specific disclosure stating the content was digitally created or manipulated. With Tuesday’s Republican gubernatorial primary two days away, at least one political action committee appears to have distributed exactly that kind of content — without the required language.
Senate Bill 164, passed by the 2025 South Dakota Legislature and introduced by Senator Larson, defines a deepfake as any image, audio, or video created or manipulated using artificial intelligence that is realistic enough that a reasonable person would believe it depicts the actual speech or conduct of a real individual.
Violating the law is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Injured candidates and the Attorney General may seek injunctive relief, damages, and attorney fees.
The law includes an exemption for satire and parody. It does not exempt content that names a candidate by name with the stated intent to influence how voters cast their ballots.
An AI Deepfakes Study
Concerned Citizens of South Dakota, a statewide political action committee based out of 2811 Vanocker Canyon Road in Sturgis, posted an AI-generated video to its Facebook page on May 18 — 15 days before Tuesday’s primary.
The video, which carries the disclaimer “Paid for by Concerned Citizens of South Dakota,” depicts multiple AI-generated characters in a cinematic Old West setting. It does not include the disclosure required by SB 164.
The video is set to an original recorded song — a parody of the classic western theme “Rawhide” — in which the word “rawhide” has been replaced throughout with “rhino hide,” a reference to the RINO political epithet. The audio is labeled “Original audio” on the PAC’s Facebook page, indicating custom production rather than auto-generated or stock content.
Auto-generated captions captured during the video include the phrase “send donors back in. Johnson cracking guard back inside,” naming gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson explicitly. Facebook’s own label on the video reads “Captions auto-generated,” indicating the platform detected no human-provided caption track — consistent with AI-generated audio content.
One scene depicts an AI-generated figure in a frontier setting hammering a “Pipeline Coming Soon” sign into the ground. Another shows a figure seated by a fireplace in a pinstriped suit. A “Pierre City Limits — Rhino’s Only” sign appears in a separate scene, with the caption “Keep it rolling though the voters told them no.” The video ends with riders herding rhinoceroses across South Dakota prairie.
The accompanying Facebook post states: “Our political insiders tell us that D.C. Dusty is trying to control our whole state — and we’re not going to stand for it.” It directs voters to nonsensesd.org ahead of Tuesday’s election.
The website nonsensesd.org, which carries the footer “Paid for by Concerned Citizens of South Dakota,” bills itself as a voter guide to candidates who “put South Dakotans last.” It lists dozens of Republican legislative candidates by name and photo across both chambers of the South Dakota Legislature, organized by district.
A Pattern Across the Race
Among those listed is District 31 Representative Mary Fitzgerald, an incumbent Republican who has been publicly active in South Dakota’s pipeline and property rights debates. On May 27, Fitzgerald posted a formal public statement to her Facebook page under the heading “For the Record.” It read: “I did not authorize, consent to, or approve the use of my likeness on any card, political mailer, campaign literature, advertisement, or other political communication.”
Fitzgerald is not alone. Dakota News Now reported that fifteen South Dakota legislative candidates issued cease-and-desist orders over campaign mailers sent by Dakota First Action, a separate PAC founded by gubernatorial candidate Toby Doeden, after mailers used their names, images, and likenesses without permission. Representative Spencer Gosch, an outspoken supporter of gubernatorial candidate Jon Hansen, told the outlet the mailers made it appear he was endorsing Doeden when he had not consented to appear on them at all.
The Concerned Citizens PAC Stacking
Campaign finance records filed with the South Dakota Secretary of State tell a story of their own.
Concerned Citizens of South Dakota lists Calvin Fickbohm of Newell as committee chair and Dylan Wieneke of Sturgis as treasurer. Its pre-primary report, filed May 18 — the same day the video was posted — shows total income of $4,875.
The single largest contribution came not from an individual donor but from another PAC: Concerned Citizens of Butte County, which contributed $2,000.
Concerned Citizens of Butte County is also a statewide political action committee. It lists Travis Ismay of Newell as committee chair — and Dylan Wieneke of Sturgis as treasurer. The two PACs share the same treasurer, the same committee address at 2811 Vanocker Canyon Road in Sturgis, and the same daytime phone number.
Ismay, the chair of the feeder PAC, is a Representative-elect to the South Dakota Legislature. He does not appear to be hiding his involvement. According to documentation reviewed by the Sentinel, Ismay himself appears on camera at the conclusion of the video, riding on horseback across the South Dakota prairie.
The pre-primary finance report for Concerned Citizens of South Dakota lists one expenditure: $2,000 for a radio advertisement. The AI-generated video — which by any reasonable measure required professional production, including original music recording and cinematic videography across multiple scenes — does not appear in the disclosed expenditures.
A Second Video
The western saloon video is not the only AI-generated content the PAC has produced.
A second video, posted to the Concerned Citizens of South Dakota Facebook page and promoted under the caption “Meet the Dusty Bots,” depicts AI-generated robotic figures in a suburban street scene with the on-screen text: “Find out which Dusty Bot model is right for you. Visit dustybots.org.” That domain redirects to nonsensesd.org — the same voter guide website carrying the PAC’s paid-for disclaimer.
One week before the primary, the PAC posted a teaser to its Facebook page reading: “Is anybody waiting for the next ad from CCOSD? Stay tuned.”
The PAC’s Facebook page describes its mission as keeping South Dakota “FREE and PROSPEROUS” and states that “the PEOPLE should be in charge of South Dakota’s future, not powerful interest groups.”
Neither video includes the disclosure required by South Dakota Senate Bill 164. The Sentinel reviewed frame-by-frame screenshots of both videos and found no superimposed text stating the content was digitally generated or manipulated. The only text identifying the content’s origin in either video is the campaign finance disclaimer: “Paid for by Concerned Citizens of South Dakota.”
Not About Scale
The videos are a small part of a much larger and more expensive air war surrounding Tuesday’s primary. Campaign finance reports connect Johnson to a political action committee that has spent more than $1.3 million on advertisements targeting his opponents in less than a month.
A Virginia-based Super PAC called Defend US has spent more than $600,000 on attack ads and mail opposing Johnson, including $500,000 on television. Concerned Citizens of South Dakota, by contrast, reported a total balance of $3,693.96 at the close of its pre-primary reporting period.
What distinguishes the CCOSD operation from the broader spending environment is not its scale. It is the technology it employed, the law that technology triggered, and the disclosures that technology required and did not receive.
South Dakota is not alone in grappling with AI-generated political content. Similar legislation has been enacted or introduced in dozens of states as campaigns increasingly deploy artificial intelligence to produce attack content at low cost and high volume. SB 164 was South Dakota’s answer to that problem. Tuesday’s primary may be an early test of whether it has teeth.
The Sentinel contacted Concerned Citizens of South Dakota for comment prior to publication. No response was received by 8:00 PM Sunday, May 31.
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