A.I. has recently taken the world by storm with its never-ending expansion of abilities, something politicians and people alike have started to notice. Since 2023 AI has gone mainstream with platforms such as ChatGPT that anyone can use with a search or download. In the past year, with the new elections, we have seen politicians utilizing the powers of AI. What is important is how they use AI.

Politics is notorious for its messy feuds and fights, but how does AI play into this 2024 election? A common theme for all political parties is smear campaigns on their opposition, and with the introduction of AI, it’s been rampant. A repost on X by Donald Trump on August 18th showed several fake AI images of Taylor Swift “fans” with shirts that say “Swifties for Trump”. “How could this be impactful?”, you may ask. Taylor Swift has millions of fans from all corners and to show misleading images can gather votes from misinformation. These types of images are called deep fakes. Deep fakes are digitally altered images or videos of people, primarily politicians and celebrities.

AI-generated online political opinions are yet another fear in the political world. With this upcoming election, this use of AI is of main concern after the Russian Government meddled in the 2016 election, by using botted accounts on X to repost pro-Trump headlines. In 2023 PBS reported that “..thousands of pro-Trump bots are attacking Desantis, and Haley”. However, Cybara (an Israeli tech firm) stated that these accounts were linked to the U.S.

As this powerful tool advances and becomes more accessible to the general population and politicians, it’ll be abused. Vox reported in March of 2023 that slowing AI’s progression is the best way to avoid catastrophe, but how much longer can the creators slow it down til it’s too advanced to slow?