AI Detector Flags Becerra's Hollywood Film Policy as 100% Machine-Written

Pangram, a widely used AI-detection tool, has flagged 100% of Xavier Becerra's 1,600-word Hollywood policy statement as artificial intelligence-generated. The candidate, who holds a 20-point lead in California's gubernatorial race and a 96% chance of victory in prediction markets, denies it flatly.

"No, that's absolutely incorrect," Becerra said at a campaign event when asked whether the statement was AI-generated.

The analysis comes from Pangram, which claims a false positive rate of 1 in 10,000 and says its tool flags genuine human political speech as AI 0.0% of the time. Independent research has backed up the tool'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 drafted with AI; use was also prevalent in Australia, Canada and the U.S.

What does the campaign say?

Jonathan Underland, Becerra's spokesman, dismissed the finding. "These AI assessors are notoriously inaccurate," he said.

Underland insisted AI played no role in developing the platform: "We don't do that. We don't talk to AI about policy. We talk to people about policy."

The statement itself carries some classic tells of machine writing, including the "it's not this, it's that" construction: "California did not just produce the film industry. It built it." The page is titled "California Is the Home of Film and TV and We Intend to Keep It That Way" — long on platitudes, short on concrete promises.

There's an irony here. The platform endorses a state mandate for AI disclosure by productions, even as its own authorship is in question. California's current AI disclosure law covers audio, video and images — but not text.

Was the opponent's policy AI-written too?

Yes, according to the same tool. Pangram also flagged Steve Hilton's film policy as AI-generated, though the Republican's document is shorter and mostly bulleted lists, which makes it harder to analyze. The Hilton campaign declined to comment.

The Hilton campaign has openly used AI to create campaign ads, disclosing that usage as state law requires. In one such ad, an AI-generated Becerra endorses sending out a "vague policy tweet" — "Great idea, but keep it vague like all the other ones. Not too much detail."

Becerra's campaign says it does not use AI in its videos and has criticized Hilton's "AI slop."

What does this change for Hollywood?

The real stakes sit in the state's film and TV production incentive, currently capped at $750 million a year. If elected, Becerra will face immediate pressure to expand it. Attorney General Rob Bonta has said he will sponsor a bill to eliminate the cap entirely.

"We do need to, early next year, take steps to strengthen it," said Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur of Burbank, one of Hollywood's strongest allies in Sacramento. "A number of us have wanted to uncap the program for some time."

Another proposal would fold "above the line" salaries (the pay for actors, directors and other creative leads) into the program. Both ideas would cost significant money and would compete with the state's other fiscal priorities.

Asked directly whether he supports removing the cap or including above-the-line costs, Becerra stayed noncommittal. "I'll sit down with all the legislators to see what kind of proposals are put before us," he said. "But we're going to fight."

At a Glendale stop on Monday, Becerra turned his lack of specifics into part of the pitch: "It's easy when you're a candidate to make all sorts of promises. It's harder to prove you can deliver. Vote for someone who knows how to deliver, because the promises go away after Election Day."

Assemblyman John Harabedian, introducing him, offered the same frame: "He is someone who will underpromise and overdeliver."

Becerra has denied most interview requests and avoided firm commitments on issues from AI to housing to electric vehicles. With election day approaching and Bonta's uncapping bill waiting, Hollywood will learn quickly whether underpromising turns into overdelivery — or into nothing at all.