Kalshi’s AI ad turned an Asian YouTuber into ‘a white dude’

An AI ad for crypto prediction market Kalshi stole a YouTube video by popular Asian content creator Elliot Choy and “turned him into a white dude.”

Choy shared a screenshot of Kalshi’s advert alongside his original New York apartment video yesterday. 

The content creator said, “I guess Kalshi saw this and thought they should steal my video, turn me into a white dude, and run it as an ad.”

Read more: Suspicious Kalshi bot shuts down amid wash trading claims

NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn confirmed that Kalshi’s advert was real and that the firm is now reviewing its relationship with its marketing agency. 

Kalshi told Allyn it was an old advert, and that it no longer uses AI-generated ads. 

Despite this claim, the advert was promoted this week on YouTube and spotted by Choy.

Another AI-generated Kalshi ad is also being ridiculed by users online. 

Made in the style of a Pixar animation, it depicts a couple in financial trouble and features cheating as its main theme.

By the end of the video, one partner reveals she isn’t cheating, and that she’s actually gambling egg prices on Kalshi using her knowledge of running a bakery.

Users have described the spot as “cringe,” “out of touch,” and “insane.”

Maybe the most cringe ad I ever had the displeasure of watching https://t.co/BaMWYkBkAr

Some have noted that the animation style might make it appealing to kids, while others suggested that the woman depicted in the ad might actually be insider trading. 

One user bluntly pointed out that “this ad is just showing gambling addiction.”

Kalshi has been under a lot of scrutiny this week after it was forced to deny a series of wash trading allegations.

The Wall Street Journal recently found that there was $5 billion worth of uniform $5,500 trades across ETH perp volume in one month. 

Its report built upon the findings of quant analyst Benoit Dubosson, who decided to investigate the platform after falling out with its crypto lead IcoBeast.eth.  

Read more: CFTC orders Kalshi to continue operations amid New York lawsuit

To top it off, users have begun to speculate that Kalshi paid various popular X accounts, many of which are unrelated to the prediction market niche, to share its rejection of wash trading allegations. 

Others claim to have spotted Kalshi inflating user metrics by boosting the number of people chatting.

Protos has reached out to Kalshi for comment and will update this piece should we hear anything back. 

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