Three weeks before the US midterm elections, scheduled for November 3, the campaign is seeing an increase in fake television ads generated by artificial intelligence targeting certain political figures. Broadcast on television and social media, these short videos resemble campaign ads as known in France, except they are entirely created by AI.
Clips targeting candidates
Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is among the targeted personalities. In one of these clips, the voiceover states: “When Abdul El-Sayed talks about family and friendship, he never mentions his own family. The destruction of Israel and the West is not just a game for them, it is a mission.” On screen, the candidate appears surrounded by four women fully veiled from head to toe, then playing a board game with cards labeled “Death to America” and “Celebrate 9/11.” The ad ends with a voiceover and subtitles indicating that the images were entirely generated by artificial intelligence.
This clip was produced by The Front Line Action, a think tank close to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. According to the source, this organization is not the only one producing such fake ads.
A quantified phenomenon
The Wesleyan Media Project, which tracks campaign spending in the United States, has identified 220 ads created partly or entirely by AI. Their creation and broadcast on American television cost a total of 137 million dollars, according to this organization. However, it considers these figures underestimated, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to detect AI-generated videos.
The vast majority of these ads, 81%, are sponsored by Republican candidates, compared to 12% by Democratic candidates. Furthermore, only 27% of these fake ads indicate they were generated by AI, which, according to the Wesleyan Media Project, presents a significant risk of misinformation.
Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, also targeted by one of these fake clips, responded by referring to a “slippery slope toward the destruction of truth in politics.”
