AI news · Political ads · AI
Campaigns spend $137 million on AI ads, most with no label
Wesleyan researchers count 220 US political ads made partly with AI this cycle, against under $50,000 of such spending in 2024.
AI is now an everyday production tool in US election advertising. The Wesleyan Media Project, a university team that tracks political ads, has found 220 ads in the 2026 midterm cycle that used AI somewhere in their making. Airing them has cost more than $137 million, it said on 15 October 2026 in its latest release. In the whole 2024 cycle it found under $50,000 of such spending.
Most viewers get no warning. Just 27 per cent of the ads carry a disclaimer about AI, the team found. They have run in 34 states.
The use is lopsided. Democrats are behind just 12 per cent of the ads. Republican candidates and groups account for 81 per cent, and for 88 per cent of the money spent on them, the release shows. Its coders leave out any ad where they cannot tell whether AI made an image, so the team calls its totals an undercount.
In nearly half of the ads, a real politician appears in a deepfake (a convincing fake image or video of a real person), Gizmodo reports. Citing The New York Times, Gizmodo adds that some campaigns use AI to make stock footage and keep production costs down. Thirty states have laws requiring political ads to disclose AI use, it says.
Anyone buying political or issue ads should check the AI-label rules of every state and platform in the plan before launch.
Sources
- Wesleyan Media Project: GOP Lead in Senate Spending Narrows; Dems Catch Up in Senate Broadcast Airings. Checked
- Gizmodo: $137 Million Has Been Spent on AI-Generated Ads Ahead of Midterms. Only 27% Included a Disclaimer. Checked
Alexandre S.
Alexandre S. is a creative ad strategist and copywriter with ten years' experience in digital marketing across multiple channels.
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