AI is influencing the 2024 presidential election campaign. But unlike what experts feared

WASHINGTON – With the 2024 election approaching, the first since the mass popularization of generative artificial intelligence, experts feared the worst: social media would be flooded with AI-generated deepfakes so realistic that stunned voters would not know what to believe.

So far, that hasn't happened. Instead, voters are seeing something far more absurd: A video of former President Donald Trump riding a cat while holding an assault rifle. A mustachioed Vice President Kamala Harris in communist clothing. Trump and Harris passionately embracing.

AI is playing a major role in the presidential campaign, even if the worst fears that it could jeopardize the US presidential election have not yet come to fruition. Fake AI-generated images regularly circulate on the internet, but many of them are so cartoonish and absurd that even the most naive viewer could not take them seriously.

Yet even these memes can be problematic. Eye-catching AI-generated photos and videos, some of them intended to be funny, have become useful tools for spreading false, sometimes racist messages with a clear political bent — and candidates and their supporters are among those sharing them on social media.

For example, Trump and many of his allies have not only repeatedly promoted the baseless conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants are stealing and eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, but have also shared AI-generated memes to that effect. One of them, shared by Trump on his Truth Social account, shows him on a luxury jet surrounded by cats and white ducks. Another showed a group of kittens holding a sign that read “DON'T LET THEM EAT US, vote for Trump!”

Francesca Tripodi, an expert in online propaganda, said such images created by artificial intelligence are new, viral vehicles for spreading age-old anti-immigration narratives.

“The memes that support this claim are anything but funny. When elected officials use these images to spread racism and xenophobia, that is a huge problem,” said Tripodi, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Republicans defend the images as humorous jokes – and as a byproduct of Trump’s personality.

“There's a culture of personality around Donald Trump that encourages this over-the-top style of communication that turns things into comical memes,” said Caleb Smith, a Republican strategist. “The intent is to entertain, not to deceive. That's what it should be.”

Not just Trump supporters

Trump and his supporters aren't the only ones creating AI memes, but they appear to be using AI image generators more frequently than their Democratic counterparts. Some left-leaning users have posted AI images poking fun at billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of X and an outspoken supporter of Trump's campaign. Democrats have also posted AI-generated images of Trump in handcuffs and during his police chase when he was on trial in Manhattan last year.

But Kamala Harris' campaign has not focused on amplifying AI-generated content, instead limiting itself to TikTok trends and other memes that do not require AI models to create.

“Currently, the only use of generative AI authorized by the campaign is for productivity tools like data analysis and industry-standard coding assistance,” said Mia Ehrenberg, spokeswoman for the Harris campaign.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not respond to specific questions from the Associated Press but said the campaign's strategy has not changed since May, when he said in an emailed statement that the campaign does not “leverage or use” tools provided by AI companies.

Using fake, entertaining and often absurd images to make political arguments is nothing new. But unlike cobbled-together Photoshopped images or political cartoons, AI-generated images have a stronger impact with their hyperrealism and can bring new attention to a political message.

While some of the pet-related images in Springfield seemed cartoonish and silly, many felt they perpetuated a damaging conspiracy theory about a community that has since received bomb threats that have led to the evacuation of schools and government buildings.

“Memes that are obviously a parody are one thing. It's another thing when they're obviously intended to deceive,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California and a vocal Trump critic. “And we're already seeing the Trump campaign really blurring the line.”

AI makes it easy

The speed and accessibility of generative AI tools make it easy to create edgy political content that can generate clicks and likes. Because AI image generators are accessible to anyone with an internet connection, they are a cost-effective and convenient way for campaigns to respond to online trends and get a message across.

“Campaigns have long struggled with disinformation and misinformation. … This is not a new problem. But AI obviously makes it possible to do these things faster, perhaps more persuasively and more targeted,” said Teddy Goff, the digital director of Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign.

Paul Ingrassia, a New York-based political commentator and lawyer, said he created a viral image of Trump emerging from a lion's den in seconds by prompting Grok to do so. He then included it in his newsletter and sent it to Trump campaign staff. Trump's Truth Social account published Ingrassia's newsletter, including the image, the same day.

“I got a message from my contact with the president saying, 'The president liked the picture. How did you do it? Who did it?' And I said, 'Oh, I did. I did it for the article,'” Ingrassia said. “And he said, 'Keep up the good work, he loves it.'”

The use of AI for political satire and propaganda is not limited to the US and has been seen in elections from Indonesia to the Netherlands.

More sinister deepfakes have also attempted to influence elections around the world. In Slovakia last year, AI audio clips imitated the leader of the Liberal Party speaking about voter fraud just days before the general election. In the New Hampshire primary in January, audio deepfakes of President Joe Biden were sent in robocalls to Democratic voters urging them not to vote. The incident quickly became public and led to criminal charges.

Trump's endorsement of AI-generated imagery contradicts some of his past comments. In an interview with Fox Business this year, Trump called artificial intelligence “very dangerous” and “so scary” because there is “no real solution” to the problems created by advancing technology.

And some Republicans are concerned about Trump and the GOP using AI to create political memes.

“I don't participate in memes. I never have and I never will,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican in a competitive district outside Philadelphia. “I just don't believe in it.”

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Swenson reported from New York.

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This story is part of an Associated Press series called “The AI ​​​​Campaign,” which examines the impact of artificial intelligence in the 2024 election cycle.

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