AI videos have gone fully mainstream in political campaigns, and lawmakers are grappling with what it could mean for politics — and maybe their own careers.
“We need to have a big conversation on AI,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, one of the leading Republicans pushing for AI regulation. “Because pretty soon like everything, if we don’t have limits, all of it’s gonna be fake — every single thing.”
In only a few months, AI has become commonplace in the feeds of political leaders like President Donald Trump, who often shares AI content of himself and his opponents on his Truth Social account, including last weekend’s video of the president dropping feces out of a plane onto protesters.
Last week, the Senate Republican campaign arm posted an eerily realistic AI-generated video of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the Senate halls seemingly talking in a press conference. The video depicted Schumer saying every day of the shutdown “gets better for us,” as he forced a small grin.
The quote was real — Schumer said it in an off-camera interview with Punchbowl News — but the audio and video were not. The National Republican Senatorial Committee added a small “AI Generated” tag in the bottom-right corner of the clip. Some lawmakers argued that disclosure tag in the corner is the bare minimum.
Republicans have so far been the most willing to push boundaries when it comes to using AI in political ads. But that doesn’t mean Democrats will be unwilling to dabble as time goes on. The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, the opposing arm to the NRSC, did not respond to a request for comment on whether or not they will use AI in advertising or other materials this cycle.
“If they fuck around, we got to fuck around too,” Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego told NOTUS, adding that Democrats should “absolutely” use AI if their opponents are engaging in it.
Other Democrats are more wary.
“AI should not be used to put words in anyone’s mouth,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NOTUS. “AI is creating something that does not exist, and when our politics head down that path, we’re in trouble.”
Democratic Sen. Andy Kim told NOTUS that adopting AI in political ads could lead politics “down a dark path.”
“We need to be very strong and clear from the outset that it would be wrong and really disastrous for our democracy when we start to see those types of attacks,” Kim said.
While many forecasted AI would drastically influence the 2024 presidential election, the technology was not yet advanced enough to produce realistic content and was not widely adopted among political operatives. Now, as generative AI models get better and easier to use, few campaigns seem to be prepared for what’s ahead of them.
It’s inordinately easy to make videos, and the content is increasingly convincing. Even audio AI has the growing capacity to match an individual’s voice and speaking style. AI videos of politicians are becoming more common by the minute. Currently, there is no federal law requiring AI to be labeled as such.
AI videos are also cheap or even free to make, as the NRSC pointed out while defending its video.
“These were Chuck Schumer’s own words,” Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the NRSC, told NOTUS in a statement. “He may wish people didn’t know he said them, but he did and for $0 our video took a print quote seen by ‘100,000+’ Punchbowl subscribers to over 1.7 million views. Chairman (Tim) Scott wanted an NRSC that worked harder and smarter while still being good stewards of donor dollars, and this video delivered on that.”
Lawmakers have made some attempts to grapple with the emerging technology. But Congress in particular has never excelled in catching up to technological advances, and legislation to rein in or regulate AI has largely stalled.
Hawley is one of the co-sponsors of a bipartisan bill intended to ban deceptive uses of AI media in political ads. The bill was introduced by Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who earlier this year was targeted by a viral deepfake.
Hawley said the video of Schumer — which he had not seen until NOTUS showed him a clip — was “kind of on the border,” and whether the bill would apply would depend on whether the video counts as a parody or not. Parody is protected under the Constitution, creating a complex gray area for AI and deepfakes.
Klobuchar, who also had not directly seen the Schumer video, said the issue is complicated, also noting that parody is “allowed under the Constitution.”
“At the very least, we should pass a law saying that it has to say it’s digitally altered, so innocent people don’t see it and think it’s real,” Klobuchar said. “It happens all the time, even things that we think are funny, you know, they think are real.”
Sen. Susan Collins, another Republican co-sponsor of the legislation, had not seen the Schumer deepfake when approached by NOTUS. But she had a clear line.
“I don’t think the use of AI in political campaigns, unless it is prominently identified, is a good move,” Collins said. “I know that it’s happening and that it is widespread on both sides of the aisle.”
Collins said that as long as the NRSC quoted Schumer accurately and labeled the use of AI, which it did, she might be OK with the video, but said she needed to review the video further. Her office did not respond to a request for additional comment.
When NOTUS asked GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer whether artificial intelligence is becoming fair game, he replied: “I hope it’s not. I mean, I have to be honest.”
But his own line seemed to be whether or not it was obvious the AI was, in fact, AI.
“When it’s clear that it’s AI, that it’s fake, and it’s meant to be humorous or, you know, light-hearted ... I’m fine with it,” Cramer told NOTUS.