Arizona candidates turn to AI to generate campaign content - Arizona Capitol Times
Arizona politicians are increasingly using AI-generated content in campaigns, sometimes to target political opponents, taking advantage of relatively lax state laws.
- Incident date
- Apr 2024
- Target
- Adrian Fontes
Arizona political candidates are increasingly using AI to generate campaign content. One candidate created an entire political ad with AI, while others are creating content targeting their political opponents.
What happened
Sen. Mark Finchem posted AI-generated photos targeting Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. One photo depicted Fontes being led away in handcuffs, and another showed him with his head bowed before a judge. The posts included pleas for donations to Finchem's campaign, and only one had an AI disclosure. Stephen Richer was also depicted in AI-generated content as a cartoon villain. Richer responded by making the image his profile photo, noting the increase in ease and detail in generated images and how it "supercharges people's ability to be awful to people."