MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Advanced AI tools are changing the face of political advertising in the U.S., and as Colin Jackson of the Michigan Public Radio Network reports, that could have implications for our next election and our democracy.
COLIN JACKSON, BYLINE: The Los Angeles mayoral race may have set the tone for AI content this year, with videos like a viral ad portraying candidate Spencer Pratt as Batman taking on California’s political establishment.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As Marco Rubio) You can do it, Spencer.
JACKSON: Pratt’s not the only one portrayed by AI. Here’s a fake video making fun of Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As Gretchen Whitmer) Can you believe it’s been eight years already?
(As Gavin Newsom) I guess time flies when you’re getting rich off the taxpayers.
(LAUGHTER)
JACKSON: Again, that’s AI and not real. Michigan is one of 30 states that regulates the use of AI in election materials. Democratic state Representative Penelope Tsernoglou co-sponsored that law.
PENELOPE TSERNOGLOU: We didn’t exactly know how the technology would evolve or anticipate some of the, well, negative uses that people would come up with.
JACKSON: One of her concerns was fake content tricking voters into thinking a candidate said or did something they hadn’t. Instead, Michigan’s seeing more over-the-top satire. Think a Senate candidate made to look buff or a Republican gubernatorial candidate chasing down Democrats with a tractor…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “FREE BIRD”)
LYNYRD SKYNYRD: (Singing) Lord, I can’t change.
(SOUNDBITE OF CRASH)
JACKSON: …Or a group of Republican candidates and insiders making puns about gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox’s name – again, not real.
(SOUNDBITE OF POLITICAL AD)
AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As character #1) Vote for Cox.
AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As character #2) Vote for Cox.
AI-GENERATED VOICE: (As character #3) Vote for Cox.
MATTHEW BIERLEIN: That could have easily been made to be a video where those same people look very real and say things that are serious but damning of their positions and their campaigns.
JACKSON: Republican state Representative Matthew Bierlein credits the AI law, which he also co-sponsored, for avoiding a worse outcome. That goal drove the policy group Public Citizen to help write Michigan and several other states’ AI election content laws. Michigan’s law generally requires disclaimers for AI-generated political content. It’s only been used once when a state Senate candidate sued over being wrongly portrayed.
Ilana Beller with Public Citizen worries about the normalization of AI material in our elections, especially when 20 states don’t have laws to stop what she describes as a nightmare scenario of AI tricks swinging an election. Plus, AI can be a double-edged sword, she said, where it provides a scapegoat for real criticism.
ILANA BELLER: It creates cover for actual bad actors who we do have actual proof of doing something wrong to say, oh, no, that video is fake. That audio recording is fake. I didn’t actually do that thing.
JACKSON: Scott Babwah Brennen directs the Center on Technology Policy at New York University. While not all AI-generated content in politics is parody, he sees those videos in particular as a continuation of a centuries-old tradition of political satire. He says it’s important to name what makes this moment different.
SCOTT BABWAH BRENNEN: It’s the scope, the scale, maybe, like, the speed at which these things can be done, maybe the realism, which is a weird sort of concept when you’re talking about things that are obviously fake.
JACKSON: Brennen says political ads usually don’t change voters’ minds about candidates, and he’s not so sure AI-specific laws are making all that much difference. For one, he says research has shown voters typically don’t notice disclaimer labels in ads to begin with. Brennen recommends lawmakers look at policies from a technology-neutral perspective.
BRENNEN: If we’re concerned about, for example, fake deceptive content, then it shouldn’t matter if it’s AI-generated or Photoshop-generated or an actor. What matters is the deception that’s happened.
JACKSON: So far, candidates embracing AI content have seen mixed results. There’s still a lot more campaigning to go until the general election in November. So voters can probably expect more AI content, and with it, some answers and clues about what the future of AI in elections could bring.
For NPR News, I’m Colin Jackson in Lansing, Michigan.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANDERSON .PAAK SONG, “FIRE IN THE SKY”) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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