WAYS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IS BEING USED IN CAMPAIGNS THIS YEAR
Concerns ways artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in campaigns this year
Featuring guest blogger, Harrison Hickman.
+++++
Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a major role in the 2026 mid-term elections. Let’s look at some of the ways – positive and negative – that this extraordinary technology is being used by different participants in the political process.
Voters are increasingly using chatbots to gather information about issues and candidates. Gallup reports that about half of likely voters had used chatbots to research political topics as of August, up from one-third in 2024. And campaigns are increasingly using chatbots to for information about policy issues and their opponents. https://cyberscoop.com/ai-chatbots-2026-midterm-elections/
As with all things AI, caution should be the watchword. A test by States United Democracy Center found that about 7-9% of the information provided by ChatGPT and the AI interface associated with Google Search included verifiably incorrect or incomplete information about the candidates running for various offices, the requirements for voting in different states, and the location of polling sites. This, however, marks a significant improvement from previous tests. https://statesunited.org/resources/ai-and-elections/
Political campaigns are using AI for a variety of desirable and undesirable purposes both seen and unseen by the electorate beyond the use of chatbots as an information source. The most visible use of AI has been in attack ads aired on both digital and television/cable outlets. Ads showing opponents in an unfavorable light are nothing new, of course, but AI has been used to show candidates doing or saying what the creators think are unpopular things.
The best example of this probably is an ad from a political action committee (Citizens for Sanity) portraying James Talarico, the Democratic US Senate nominee in Texas, singing a song about transgender kids. In the Republican Senate primary in Texas, all of the major candidates (John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, and Jasmine Crockett) each sponsored ads with AI-generated content. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/congressional/4617529/ai-deepfake-ad-midterm-election-campaign/)
Democrats have used the same approach. In a race in the 21st Congressional district of New York, Democrat Blake Gendebien created a deep-fake video attacking incumbent Republican Elise Stefanik is what was described as a “sexist manner.” Another Republican, Anthony Constantino, retaliated with an AI-generated ad of his own satirizing Gendebien’s attack. https://www.wcax.com/2025/07/16/stefanik-campaign-criticizes-ai-used-democrats-campaign-ad/and https://www.wcax.com/2026/08/12/ai-deepfake-video-ny-21-congressional-candidate-sparks-debate-over-ny-election-law/
Campaigns are also using AI chatbots in a variety of ways to reach voters directly. Chatbots trained to mimic the voice of candidates and text messages seem to come from candidates are being sent to voters in large numbers. https://www.thepoliticalgroup.com/news/ai-campaign-strategy-tools-are-reshaping-the-2026-midterms-what-voters-need-to-k)
One episode this year provides a cautionary tale about campaigns’ use of chatbots. In early August, the campaign of Scott Wiener, a contender for the Congressional seat being vacated by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, put up chatbot designed to be a parody of his opponent, Connie Chan. Its intention was to show Chan as a kneejerk opponent of a variety of programs. But Chan’s campaign quickly claimed that some of the AI responses made insulting allusions to Chan’s ethnicity and gender. (Both candidates are Democrats.) After a short denying that the chatbot was intended or even capable of making such references, Wiener’s campaign took it down. The local newspaper highlighted the episode as an example of how AI could be weaponized regardless of the creators’ intentions. [www.axios.com][www.thegatewaypundit.com]
Campaigns are also using AI to shape and target their messages. This is seen as a logical extension using new tools to general personalized messaging, a process that has been employed for almost half a century. It is also creating something of an arms race as candidates, parties, and consultants, try to develop new ways of using AI that will give them an upper hand. https://thefulcrum.us/media-technology/artificial-intelligence-in-politics
Finally, no review of the role of AI in the campaign would be complete without mentioning the enormous money the AI industry has been putting into campaigns in hopes of influencing public policy about AI. As of the most recent financial reports, the two largest AI-related PACs had spent or donated almost $45 million in US House and Senate campaigns. This is less than one-quarter of the money just these two PACs have raised for the cycle. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/09/ai-companies-election-spending.html
Everything we have already seen indicates that AI will play a major role in the elections this year and that the role will only increase in future ones.