CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Early voting for the state primary begins Tuesday. If our phones and TVs weren’t filled with political messages before, they probably will be from now on.
Artificial intelligence is changing the way political campaigns are conducted and how voters view candidates. As with any new product, there is good AI and bad AI. passive and active.
Generative AI is being used to create images and videos to fool voters through attack ads. In South Carolina, several prominent candidates have been targeted with ads depicting made-up scenarios. For example, Attorney General Alan Wilson is depicted ignoring a phone call from President Donald Trump. Another ad shows Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evett taking a lie detector test.
Alon Yamin, CEO and co-founder of Copyleaks, an AI detection software, says it is starting to become increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI and human content.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI and human content,” Yamin says. “The bar for fraud is very low. Anyone can create anything they want with AI right now. This poses serious problems for the political landscape.”
There are several things you can look into to see if a photo or video is real. Check the video details. Smearing features such as hair or hands completely proves that the video is fake. If lip sync is turned off, the video can also be generated by AI. Be wary of low quality videos. Blurry videos are a good way to hide AI flaws.
Yamin said AI detection software can help identify generated content in ways that cannot be detected by the naked eye.
“Focus on the background and see if there are any changes in the background that you would expect from a moving video. Things like that could be signs or symptoms,” Yamin said. “Unfortunately, you won’t really know unless you have AI detection technology that can look at the frames and pixels and determine with a high level of accuracy whether this is AI or not.”
Lip syncing is also a big bonus. If the words in the video don’t match the mouth from which they are spoken, you may be watching a generated video.
Because AI is relatively new, laws regulating generative AI either do not exist or have not kept up with the advances that are occurring at record speed.
“We’re seeing different regulations in different states. Most regulations basically require individuals to disclose when content is created by AI. Others ban the use of AI completely within a certain period of time before an election,” Yamin said. “I think what’s really missing is having something at the federal level where all states are working in the same context.”
It’s truly the wild west for AI and generated content, especially social media. The best advice for scrollers is to trust your instincts. If you can’t believe the images or videos, you probably won’t.
Copyright 2026 WCSC. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
