Elections & Deepfakes
How AI is reshaping campaigns — through synthetic media that can deceive voters, and through industry money flowing into the races that will decide AI's own regulation.
Artificial intelligence is affecting elections in two distinct ways. The first is synthetic media: AI-generated images, video, and audio that can be used to put words in a candidate's mouth or fabricate events that never happened. During the 2024 presidential primary, a political consultant used AI to create a robocall impersonating President Biden, telling New Hampshire Democrats not to vote. The technology has since become more accessible, cheaper, faster, and far more convincing. The second is money. AI industry PACs are spending heavily to shape who writes the rules for AI, often through ads that focus on unrelated issues like healthcare and cost of living. That spending is tracked in detail elsewhere on this site.
Why it matters to voters
Synthetic media erodes the basic ability to trust what you see and hear. A fake video released days before an election can spread faster than any correction. Even when a deepfake is debunked, it can leave lasting doubt, and its mere existence gives bad actors cover to dismiss real footage as fake. For voters, the practical challenge is no longer just "is this claim true" but "did this event happen at all."
Recent developments
- Mid-202630 states have enacted laws specifically regulating deepfakes in political communications, up from 28 at the start of the year. Most require disclosure — clear labels on AI-generated political ads, typically within 60 to 90 days of an election — rather than outright bans.
Why this mattersBroader counts that include all AI-generated media put the number of states with relevant laws far higher.
- 2026 midtermsMontana and South Dakota passed disclosure laws that take effect for the 2026 cycle.
- May 2026The federal Take It Down Act took effect, requiring platforms to remove non-consensual intimate imagery — including AI-generated deepfakes — within 48 hours.
Why this mattersIt is currently the only standalone federal AI content law in force. Congress has not passed broader deepfake election legislation.
Political & policy relevance
Supporters of disclosure laws, including groups like Public Citizen, argue voters have a right to know when political content is synthetic, and that labeling is a light-touch fix that doesn't restrict speech. Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy & Technology, warn that vague laws can chill legitimate speech like satire and parody, and that takedown mechanisms can be abused to silence real content. A federal judge struck down California's deepfake election law as overly broad, holding it should be narrowly aimed at speech that causes concrete harms like voter intimidation. Looking ahead, lawmakers are increasingly targeting not just individual creators but the platforms, payment processors, and AI companies that enable synthetic media.
Candidates working on this
Alex Bores · Valerie Foushee · Mallory McMorrow
Further reading
Last updated Mid-2026