Rockwall Voices Op-Ed
As I write this article today, I find myself struggling with how to address a disturbing AI-generated image of the Mayor of Fate and a City Council member that was recently posted in a local social media group.
My immediate reaction was one of disgust not only because of the image itself, but because it reflects a growing problem facing communities across the country.
My next thought was whether legal action might be possible.
But before discussing legal remedies, it is worth exploring the broader public policy issues surrounding AI-generated images.
Artificial intelligence has made it easier than ever to create realistic images that can ridicule, demean, embarrass, or misrepresent individuals. While some AI-generated content may be harmless satire or humor, other images can cause real harm to the people depicted, their families, their children, and our community.
To their credit, many people quickly condemned the image. Yet doing so raises a larger question that few seem willing to discuss:
What standards should we expect from ourselves as a community when using powerful technologies such as artificial intelligence?
The issue extends far beyond a single image or a single social media post. Across Rockwall County, social media groups are increasingly filled with AI-generated content. Some of them are humorous. Some of it is creative. But some of it is intentionally disgusting, degrading, emotionally harmful, misleading, or designed to inflame emotions and deepen divisions.
We must be honest and state the obvious: we see AI-generated images and deepfakes every day in Rockwall County social media groups.
Yet there is very little pushback against this content. Too often, people scroll past it, laugh at it, share it, or simply accept it as part of the online environment.
As a community, we should be asking ourselves why we have become so tolerant of content that would be considered unacceptable if it were directed at our family members, kids, grandkids, close friends, neighbors, or ourselves.
Silence can easily be mistaken for acceptance. When harmful AI-generated content goes unchallenged, it becomes normalized. Over time, the standards of civil discourse decline, and behavior that once would have been widely condemned becomes commonplace.
The challenge is not the technology itself. Artificial intelligence is simply a tool.
The real issue is how people choose to use it.
When AI-generated images are used to humiliate public officials, private citizens, political opponents, or community members, everyone loses. Trust erodes. Public discourse becomes more hostile. Families are affected. Children watch adults treat one another with contempt rather than respect. Over time, this behavior damages the very fabric of our communities.
Federal AI Response
The Trump Administration has been grappling with how to address both the opportunities and risks associated with artificial intelligence. Among the concerns cited are:
- Discovering cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
- Assisting with sophisticated cyberattacks.
- Affecting critical infrastructure.
- Creating national security risks if advanced AI systems are released without adequate safeguards.
The Administration’s broader AI strategy emphasizes:
- Maintaining American leadership in artificial intelligence.
- Reducing regulatory barriers to innovation.
- Limiting state-by-state regulation in favor of a national framework.
- Competing aggressively with China in AI development.
However, recent federal actions do not directly address issues such as:
- AI-generated political content.
- Deepfakes involving public officials.
- Defamation or misinformation created through AI.
- The widespread use of AI-generated content on social media.
And therein lies the first problem.
Many of the AI-related harms affecting local communities today are not national security issues. They are community issues. They involve reputations, families, children, elections, public discourse, and basic human decency.
Texas Legislative AI Response
Texas has also begun addressing artificial intelligence through legislation.
House Bill 149, signed by Governor Abbott, established Texas’ first comprehensive framework governing the use of AI. Key provisions include:
- Prohibiting the use of AI to intentionally encourage self-harm, violence, or criminal activity.
- Prohibiting government “social scoring” systems.
- Restricting certain biometric surveillance and identification practices.
- Prohibiting AI systems designed to unlawfully discriminate against protected class
- Creating a Texas AI Council to study AI-related issues and make recommendations.
- Authorizing enforcement by the Texas Attorney General and providing civil penalties.
The Texas Legislature went even further by passing several targeted AI-related bills:
- SB 441: Strengthened penalties for certain sexually explicit AI-generated deepfakes
- HB 3133: Addressed social media takedown procedures for certain deepfake content.
- HB 783: Addressed AI-assisted impersonation and “catfishing” concerns.
These laws represent important first steps. However, Texas law does not broadly prohibit AI-generated political satire, parody, or offensive images of public officials.
And therein lies the second problem.
As a result, many harmful AI-generated images appearing in local social media groups remain governed primarily by existing defamation, harassment, election, and platform policies rather than by federal or Texas AI laws themselves.
Technology is evolving faster than the law. That gap will likely continue to create difficult questions for lawmakers, courts, social media companies, and communities.
Final Thoughts
Free speech remains one of our most cherished constitutional rights. However, the exercise of that right also carries responsibility. Just because technology allows us to create something does not mean we should.
Communities thrive when disagreements are based on facts, ideas, and public policy not personal attacks, humiliation, or digitally manufactured images designed to provoke outrage.
The elephant in the room is not artificial intelligence.
It is us.
Technology will continue to advance. The question is whether our character, judgment, and sense of civic responsibility will advance with it.
The future of our communities will not be determined by artificial intelligence. It will be determined by the choices we make when we use it.
It is time for the good citizens of Rockwall County, community leaders, faith leaders, social media administrators, and elected officials to draw a clear line. AI-generated content that is intentionally harmful, degrading, demeaning, defamatory, or designed to humiliate others has no place in civil discourse or in our community.
If we fail to draw that line, these disgusting images will continue to be created, shared, and normalized. Over time, the damage will extend far beyond a single social media post. It will erode trust, lower the standards of public discourse, and further divide our community.
Such content does not strengthen our community; it weakens it. It does not encourage debate; it encourages division. It does not build trust; it destroys it.
If we truly care about the future of our community, we must demand better from ourselves and from those who participate in the public square. The measure of a community is not how it treats those with whom it agrees, but how it treats those with whom it disagrees.
As Scripture reminds us:
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official stance of The Rockwall Times. We encourage a respectful exchange of perspectives to enrich our community dialogue.
