More Than $137 Million Has Been Spent on AI-Generated Midterm Ads

Por Chris Walker — Truthout

The vast majority of ads emanate from GOP campaigns, depicting their Democratic opponents in fictionalized scenarios.

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Millions of dollars have been spent on AI during this year’s midterm election campaign, oftentimes through candidates using the technology to depict their opponents in fictional situations, portraying them in negative ways to unsuspecting voters.

According to research from Wesleyan University, over 200 ads have used AI in this election cycle. The ads have totaled more than $137 million in campaign spending.

More than 80 percent of the ads have been produced by Republican candidates or political action committees (PACs) aligned with the GOP. One such ad, featuring Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul (who is running for re-election in New York), features her walking alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The governor reminds Mamdani, “don’t say affordable” while the two refer to how they plan to govern the state moving forward.

No such statement from Hochul exists, and the video of them walking next to each other in such a way is entirely fictional. The ad doesn’t contain any disclaimer informing viewers that it’s generated by AI.

“It’s the year of the AI election,” Fred N. Davis III, founder of Strategic Perception, an advertising firm based in Hollywood, said to The New York Times. “It’s top of mind for everybody in my business and pretty much everybody in the political business.”

Some candidates who have become the victims of AI advertising are pushing back. Rebecca Cooke, a Democrat seeking to unseat Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R) in a contentious election in Western Wisconsin, sent a “cease and desist” order to him for posting a series of online AI ads he made against her. One of those ads featured fictionalized versions of Cooke and former President Joe Biden, with the former stating that she plans to “take advantage of as much corruption as possible” if Democrats win the elections.

“These defamatory, misleading videos undermine our democratic process and are the exact kind of mudslinging voters are tired of,” the letter said to Van Orden.

Wisconsin law forbids the use of deepfake videos in political messaging, but there is a loophole for federal candidates. The letter takes note of that state statute, telling the Republican lawmaker that he is “violating the spirit of the law.”

Van Orden has continued to produce AI videos. And though he has used Cooke’s image less often, he has now resorted to using an animated duck to refer to her, whose voice sounds eerily similar to the Democratic candidate’s.

For his own part, President Donald Trump has rejected calls for the government to regulate AI, instead touting a non-binding “self-policing” accord that he and several AI companies have signed onto. He has also sought to rebrand AI as “super intelligence,” and has made the extraordinary claim that any criticism of the technology is akin to an act of treason.

American voters, meanwhile, would like to see more regulation of AI.

According to a Johns Hopkins University poll published this summer, most Americans back a “right to human” law, which would allow them to opt out of AI interactions if they so desire, including 79 percent who support that concept in health care settings, 76 percent who back it in legal proceedings, and 73 percent who say such a law should apply when AI is aiding in government services.

A recent CNN poll also found that most Americans believe the U.S. government is not doing enough to regulate AI, with 71 percent of respondents expressing that view. Support for regulation is also bipartisan — 85 percent of Democratic-leaning respondents support regulation, while 63 percent of Republican-leaning respondents do as well, the survey found.

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Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, based in Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on both national and local topics since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing the issues of the day and their impact on people. He can be found on most social media platforms under the handle @thatchriswalker.

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Fonte: Truthout