AI deepfakes are shaping elections, but not in the most feared way

So far, this has not happened. Instead, what voters see is far more absurd: a video of former President Donald Trump riding a cat while wielding an assault rifle. A mustachioed vice president, Kamala Harris, dressed in communist garb. Trump and Harris share a passionate embrace.

Artificial intelligence is playing a major role in the presidential campaign, even if the biggest fears about how it could threaten the US presidential election have yet to materialize. AI-generated fake images regularly bounce around the web, but many of them are so cartoonish and absurd that even the most naive viewer couldn’t take them seriously.

However, even these memes can be problematic. Eye-catching AI-generated photos and videos, some trying to be funny, have become useful tools for spreading false, sometimes racist, messages with a clear political slant — 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 spread AI-related memes. One shared by the Trump Truth Social account showed 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 Trump!”

Online propaganda expert Francesca Tripodi said such AI-generated images are new, viral vehicles to push old anti-immigration narratives.

“The memes amplifying this claim are anything but humorous. When you have elected officials using these images as a way to perpetuate racism and xenophobia, that’s a huge problem,” said Tripodi, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Republicans defend the images as light jokes — and byproducts of Trump’s personality.

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

Not just Trump supporters

Trump and his supporters aren’t the only ones creating AI memes, but they seem to be using AI image generators more than their Democratic counterparts. Some left-wing users posted images of artificial intelligence mocking billionaire Elon Musk, owner of X and an outspoken supporter of the Trump campaign. Democrats also posted AI-generated images of Trump in handcuffs and being followed by police when he was in Manhattan court last year.

But Kamala Harris’s campaign wasn’t geared toward amplifying AI-generated content, instead sticking to TikTok trends and other memes that don’t require AI models to create.

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

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung did not respond to specific questions from The Associated Press, but said his strategy had not changed since May, when he provided an emailed statement saying the campaign did not ” employ and do not use’ tools provided by any artificial intelligence company.

Using fake, entertaining, often absurd images to score political points is nothing new. But unlike Photoshopped images or political cartoons, AI-generated images have a stronger impact through their hyper-realism and can draw new attention to a political message.

While some of the images related to Springfield’s pets were cartoonish and silly, many felt they perpetuated a harmful conspiracy theory about a community that has since received bomb threats that prompted the evacuation of schools and government buildings.

“Memes that are obviously parody are one thing. It’s another one where it’s obviously intended to deceive,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and vocal critic of Trump. “And we’re already seeing the Trump campaign really blur the line.”

AI makes it easy

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

“Campaigns have been dealing with disinformation and disinformation for a very long time. … It is not a new problem. But obviously what AI allows is for these things to be done more quickly, perhaps more convincingly, and in a more targeted environment,” said Teddy Goff, the digital director of Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

Paul Ingrassia, a political commentator and lawyer in New York, said he took a viral image of Trump emerging from the lions’ den in seconds, requesting Grok, then sent it to his newsletter and sent- a Trump campaign staffer. The Trump Truth Social account posted Ingrassia’s newsletter that day, including the image.

“I got a message from my point of contact with the president and they said, ‘The president liked the image, how did you do it?’ Who created it? And I said, “Oh, I did. I did this for the article,’” Ingrassia said. “And he said, ‘Keep up the great work, he likes it.’

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

More sinister deepfakes have attempted to influence races around the world. In Slovakia last year, AI audio clips impersonated the head of the liberal party talking about vote rigging days before parliamentary elections. 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 was quickly publicized and resulted in criminal charges.

Trump’s embrace of AI-generated imagery reverses 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 advanced technology.

And some Republicans have worried about how Trump and the GOP are using artificial intelligence to create political memes.

“I don’t engage in memes. I never had. I never will,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican in a competitive district outside Philadelphia. “I just don’t believe in it.”