Original Coverage & Source Attribution: foxsanantonio.com
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Political action groups and candidates have been using artificial intelligence for campaign ads, spending over $137 million for the midterm elections.
Over 80% of the AI-ads have been produced by Republican campaigns and GOP political action groups, according to The New York Times.
“I think what we’re seeing with A.I. has surprised even us,” Erika Franklin Fowler, a professor at Wesleyan University and the co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project told the Times. “A.I. can be used in so many different ways that it creates new opportunities for advertising. Some of the ways in which A.I. is used, honestly, if there wasn’t a disclaimer on the ad, it would be hard to know that A.I. was there.”
One AI-ad shows New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul walking through a yard promoting a pill titled the “political delusion bill.”
“Side effects may include: chronic wallet shrinkage, higher tax,” a narrator said over the video.
The ad didn’t include a disclaimer that it was made by AI.
This week, Tennessee GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn was blasted for using artificial intelligence for her gubernatorial campaign. The video showed her and fellow GOP candidates dancing to a Kendrick Lamar song.
Many on the left and the right said the ad was awful and many were critical of the AI usage.
“When I say please stop using AI to support our campaign, this is what I mean…” Tennessee Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jerri Green posted on X in response to the ad.
When Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie lost his primary election, he said that there were ads funded against him that were AI-generated.
He said that the ads claimed he was dating Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Here’s the AI ad the Israeli lobby spent millions to run against me in KY,” he wrote on X. “Many older people voted against me because they believed I dated AOC and Omar. I told AOC I would never do that with Omar!”
Attached to Massie’s post are screenshots of ads made by artificial intelligence. One of them shows Massie at dinner with Omar and Ocasio-Cortez.
“Thomas Massie caught in a throuple in Washington,” the voiceover says. “He’s cheating with the squad on the America First movement. Massie voted with the squad against Trump’s tax cuts.”
