Before regaining a seat on DC Council in this week's special election, Trayon White posted a video of voters that viewers quickly sniffed as artificial intelligence.
Before regaining a seat on DC Council in this week's special election, Trayon White posted a video of voters that viewers quickly sniffed as artificial intelligence.
The video shows a person whose appearance and voice are robots. The AI company logo is located in the lower right corner of the screen for an Instagram post shared on Monday, the last day of early voting.
“They want us to be home,” the woman said as she urged voters to head to the vote. “They want us to remain silent, but the truth is, no one has come to save us. We have the power to shape the present and it's time to use it.”
White won his re-election on Tuesday.
District 6 Councilman Charles Allen recently reintroduced laws regulating campaign ads like White's recent video.
“The ads had no disclosure or transparency,” Allen told WTOP's Jessica Kronzer. “And that's what we saw in ads that we generated with a lot of AI.”
The law was filed a few days before White's post. Allen said that ads generated by AI must have labels. Such advertisements will be banned 90 days before the election.
“It's absolutely fine for campaigns and candidates to contrast themselves as much as they want with others on the ballot, but we expect people to tell the truth about who is talking.
White's video was first flagged by X's 51st news journalist Martin Austermule, who posted the video using the same avatar that appeared in the campaign's ads.
But White is not far from using generative artificial intelligence for political purposes.
Generated AI is already being used in campaigns as fundraising emails, draft speeches and, in some cases, avatars call voters.
“AI in politics – toothpaste isn't just tubes,” said Peter Roge, director of media and public relations at George Washington University. “It goes to Happy Hour and takes a selfie with the candidate.”
WTOP contacted White for comments.
Can the law regulate the use of AI campaigns?
Other states have passed measures aimed at making the use of generative AI in political campaigns more transparent or banning it entirely through disclaimers.
Allen hopes that Maryland and Virginia will adopt similar laws in his proposal.
However, Loge said regulating this practice was a challenge.
“The law is not a bad thing. Regulations are not a bad thing, but they need to be enforceable,” he said. “They can't skirt easily, and what political campaign experts have proven over and over again is that they can skirt almost anything.”
Cost of AI use for political campaigns
Loge has studied AI for years and teaches courses on political communication ethics. He said some of the ethical issues presented by AI have been around for a long time.
“People didn't start lying to politics with the introduction of AI. American politics wasn't puppies or rainbows to social media. “What AI does is allow us to do what we've always done, but it has a bigger impact, faster, faster.”
He cited the example of an 18th century artist at the Hudson River School, who was tasked with portraying the great American landscapes that later influenced national parks and western expansions. Historians believe that these painters exaggerate what they saw in their artwork.
“There's been deepfakes of oil since the 1800s… generative AI makes it easier and faster,” Loge says. “That's definitely a bad thing.”
In 2023, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' campaign shared a seemingly fake image that President Donald Trump had embraced Anthony Fauci during a race to nominate a Republican president. The campaign criticized Trump's alleged support for fauna.
AI can make content easier for campaigns to be created. Loge said it will add to the political noise overload that it is already facing.
“It's going to make a goop that even the rhetoric of a political campaign, even the more like a goop,” Roge said. “There's going to be more coming to voters faster.”
Benefits of AI use for political campaigns
AI advocates say that by streamlining communication among volunteers, staff and others, they can be used to make campaigns more efficient, Loge said.
Campaigns can be expensive and Loge said AI can be used by candidates to avoid hiring staff and consultants.
“It lowers to enter the bar,” he said. “It allows more people to participate in politics, which is definitely a good thing.”
Of course, if the campaign uses AI to do work previously done by staff, human work can be expensive.
“We're replacing interns and junior staff who wrote press releases and fundraising emails with computer programs that write those things,” Loge says.
However, humans can become part of the solution to the problems presented by AI. As technology continues to improve, Loge said volunteers and staff will become increasingly important to the campaign.
He said voters would talk to their neighbors, volunteers and others to try and sort out the real and fake items.
“This actually makes politics more ironic, more human, because it becomes more of a need for human connection and campaigns than ever,” he said.
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