By Reagan Priest | Arizona Capitol Times
Key Points:
- Arizona politicians are increasingly using AI-generated content in campaigns
- Some candidates are weaponizing AI to target their political opponents
- Arizona laws on AI use in elections are relatively lax and provide little recourse
From photos of a candidate meeting with nonexistent constituents to a video of a state senator vanquishing his opponent with a proton pack Ghostbusters-style, Arizona’s political hopefuls are turning to artificial intelligence to create content to boost their campaigns.
One candidate has even gone so far as to create an entire political ad with AI, featuring memes of President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance as a tongue-in-cheek criticism of the dysfunction in Washington, D.C. Rick McCartney, a Democrat running in the crowded 1st Congressional District field, said the ad aims to point out the chaos of current Republican politics.
“We know what this chaos looks like, and one of the big reasons I’m running is for us to diffuse it.” McCartney said. “We wanted to demonstrate that frivolous use (of AI), particularly in political campaigns and with this administration, to distract.”
McCartney said his team intentionally put an AI disclosure on the ad and used unbelievable imagery — like a shirtless and heavily-tattooed Trump flexing — to illustrate the inundation of content Americans face from politicians without deceiving the voters he intends to court.
