AI Presents Challenges in Political Ads

As the US campaign cycle for 2024 approaches, elections in other countries and at the local level show how US political ads could be influenced by the use of AI. Concerns over "deep fake" information and AI ads are leading to regulations, proposed legislation, and calls by industry groups to self-regulate.  

Why It Matters

We have seen the role of human-generated disinformation in previous campaigns, and seen how social media can be used effectively to amplify such messages since they are largely unregulated. Now, the potential for AI-generated mis- or disinformation raises the stakes even more, both because AI can be generated quickly (and cheaply) and is often unintentionally wrong. It is not clear that voters always understand how to vet "facts" presented to them in political ads or placements. A source of cheap, fast, ubiquitous, misleading campaign ads could make the problem worse.