Creator Accuses Kalshi of Copying His Video and Altering His Appearance

Kalshi is facing intense online criticism after Elliot Choy claimed the firm stole one of his videos for an advertisement and altered his appearance to look like a white man. He shared side‑by‑side images that highlight the striking resemblance between the ad’s look and his own footage of moving into a New York apartment, with his computer and books visible behind him. A Kalshi spokesperson said the ad, created roughly four months ago by an agency that supplied the footage, has since been taken down. The company added that it no longer produces AI‑generated images of people and is reviewing its partnership with that agency, though it refused to name the agency. This incident occurs as Madison Avenue and other sectors grapple with balancing AI’s cost‑saving advantages against potential consumer and creator backlash. Kalshi has a history of controversy. The prediction platform has expanded into a multibillion‑dollar business allowing retail traders to wager on everything from election results to reality‑TV champions. Its disruptive model has triggered multiple lawsuits nationwide, and state regulators, such as New York’s, allege it operates an unlicensed gambling service, which Kalshi contests. Choy was not the first creator to criticize Kalshi; in June, Pushpek Sidhu shared a comparable experience. Sidhu, a 29‑year‑old Toronto creator known for food and sports content, told Themoneytimes that a person claiming to represent Kalshi contacted him to propose a collaboration, but he never received a follow‑up. Later, while attending a World Cup match in Houston, Sidhu said he spotted an advertisement featuring a young man who mirrored his own video almost exactly, delivering the same commentary and gestures. Like the Choy case, Sidhu said the ad replaced him with a white man. Sidhu said they could have paid him a small amount about Kalshi. AI usage in advertising is becoming widespread. Kalshi was among the first to employ AI in its commercials, launching a spot during the 2025 NBA Finals that attracted industry attention. While AI‑driven social media ads are now common, they still represent only a modest portion of the overall market. Resemble AI, which monitors deepfakes for government and enterprise clients, reported that its analysis of Meta’s ad library across various sectors found that roughly 9% of recent ads incorporate generative AI. Zohaib Ahmed, CEO of Resemble AI, noted that they are seeing a flood of AI‑generated ads, which are now used in virtually every industry. Platforms such as Meta and TikTok have established policies to label AI‑generated content. Companies can use various open‑source tools that are simple to operate and can cheaply generate video from images via prompts. Through video‑to‑video models, they can produce new videos from existing footage, swapping in a different face to target specific audiences. Ahmed suggested that the Kalshi ad may have begun with a thumbnail taken from a social video and then swapped in another person’s face. He acknowledged that AI can be used creatively, yet the push for hyper‑personalized ads may push companies to cross ethical boundaries. Ahmed said it is difficult to define exactly where the legal line is drawn, and emphasized that there is a clear ethical boundary: taking someone else’s content and repurposing it for personal gain, while the original creator invested real money, time, and equipment. Mick Feldman, director of client services at The Now, an influencer marketing agency, called swapping a creator’s face without consent completely unethical. He explained that agencies normally pay creators for the right to use their content. Producing a new video with a creator can cost tens of thousands of dollars, whereas licensing an existing video typically costs about a quarter of that amount. Some creators have licensed their likenesses to firms that employ them in AI‑driven ads. Monitoring whether their videos are repurposed for AI ads can be challenging for creators. While they could add digital watermarks, Feldman noted this is rare, as many creators avoid marking their work and may not view themselves as prime targets. He said it would be surprising if an apartment move‑in video were altered like that.