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Kalshi Took His Video and 'Turned Me Into a White Dude'

The prediction market platform admitted it used AI to steal an Asian-American creator's apartment footage, replace him with a non-existent white man, and run it as a YouTube ad for months. Elliot Choy found out by watching his own face disappear.

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By Jude Marlow, Editor Published September 25, 2026 at 10:45 AM PST
Kalshi Took His Video and 'Turned Me Into a White Dude'
Photo: Pburka / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wynn Sportsbook, Las Vegas, 2008). Thermal treatment by Ad Watch News.

Elliot Choy was watching YouTube when one of his old apartment videos came up as a pre-roll ad ... except the person walking through the apartment was not him. Kalshi, the federally regulated prediction market platform, had taken his 2025 moving-day footage, run it through AI, replaced him with a white man who does not exist, and called it marketing.

On September 23, Choy posted a side-by-side on X. "I guess Kalshi saw this and thought they should steal my video, turn me into a white dude, and run it as an ad," he wrote. The comparison showed his original apartment-move video next to the AI-swapped version running as a Kalshi pre-roll on YouTube.

Choy is an Asian-American creator known for tech content and his fashion label Copyright. The stolen video was about moving into a New York City apartment in September 2025. It had no connection to prediction markets, sports betting, or Kalshi.

Kalshi's non-apology

NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn confirmed the ad was authentic. A Kalshi spokesperson told NPR the ad was "old" and claimed the company "no longer runs AI-generated ads that depict people." The representative said Kalshi is "reviewing our relationship" with the producing agency. The company did not offer Choy an apology or mention compensation.

"Old" turns out to mean roughly four months, by Kalshi's own account. The ad had been running on YouTube since approximately May 2026.

Not the first creator

Choy was not the only one. Creator Pushpek Sidhu reported a nearly identical incident in June 2026, according to Startup Fortune: his video was also recreated by the same agency, with a white man standing in his place on screen. Two creators, the same template, months apart.

Neither the agency nor Kalshi has publicly named the firm responsible.

Kalshi's other open files

The AI ad scandal lands on a company already managing several public problems. The Wall Street Journal documented roughly $5 billion in suspicious uniform $5,500 trades on Kalshi's ether perpetual futures market, a pattern consistent with wash trading. Kalshi characterized the commentary as competitor-seeded rumors and said it had not faced formal CFTC examination.

The company also carries a prior referral from the National Advertising Division to the Federal Trade Commission, related to its influencer marketing practices. That referral predates the AI ad controversy.

Both copyright law and right-of-publicity law apply to what Choy described. His footage was used without a license. His likeness was replaced without consent. Choy has not publicly announced whether he intends to pursue legal action.

Kalshi has not responded to additional requests for comment beyond the NPR statement. Watch whether the agency behind the ads is publicly named, and whether any other creators come forward with similar reports.

Ad Watch News is an independent commentary site with no affiliation to Kalshi, Elliot Choy, or any platform named here. This report is drawn from sources linked in the text and listed below.

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