Influencers, AI and viral videos: Abelardo de la Espriella defeats Iván Cepeda in the digital…

In the final days of the 2025 Colombian presidential campaign, candidate Abelardo de la Espriella utilized an aggressive digital strategy that heavily incorporated AI-generated content, fundamentally outpacing his rival, Senator Iván Cepeda. While Cepeda struggled to pivot from traditional, long-form political rhetoric to the rapid-fire demands of modern social platforms, De la Espriella’s camp leveraged AI to create high-impact, viral narratives that polarized public opinion and dominated digital discourse.

What happened

The use of artificial intelligence served as a central pillar in the far-right campaign’s efforts to increase content volume and reduce production costs. One notable instance involved an AI-generated video depicting prominent political figures—including former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Juan Manuel Santos, alongside former Bogotá mayor Claudia López—gathered together on a country estate. The clip concluded with the phrase “the usual ones,” a narrative device used by De la Espriella to suggest a coordinated effort against his campaign. This synthetic scene, which would be impossible in real life, triggered a public feud and accusations of unethical conduct from established right-wing factions.

Beyond attacking rivals, AI was employed to integrate political figures into satirical or aspirational settings. Supporters of De la Espriella produced videos using AI to mock members of the Historic Pact, such as Gustavo Petro, Hollman Morris, and Juliana Guerrero, by portraying them as a struggling soccer team. Conversely, other AI-generated clips depicted De la Espriella scoring a goal in a stadium, using the imagery to frame his campaign as a triumphant match against his opponents. Digital strategists noted that while these techniques effectively captured attention, they raised significant questions regarding the blurring of reality and the ethical boundaries of democratic deliberation. Despite late attempts by Cepeda to adapt by producing short-form content, experts concluded that the shift was forced and failed to match the reach and technical targeting established by his opponent’s coordinated digital machine.