Campaigns have spent more than $137 million on AI-made midterm ads, Etzioni writes
A Seattle column on Sunday cites an 85-second fake of Texas candidate James Talarico and a UC Berkeley researcher who says most people would not spot it immediately.
Campaigns and political action committees have already spent more than $137 million to air AI-made ads in this midterm cycle, Oren Etzioni wrote in a GeekWire column published Sunday. One example is an 85-second video in which Texas Senate candidate James Talarico appears to read old tweets and add commentary he never made. The Senate Republicans' campaign arm produced it.
UC Berkeley deepfake researcher Hany Farid said most people would not immediately know the video was fake. The AI-generated label sits small and faint in a corner. Etzioni wrote that between Sunday and Nov. 3, voters will keep seeing this kind of ad. The column also showed AI images used in ads aimed at Mike Mazzei, Peggy Flanagan, Kathy Hochul and Zohran Mamdani.
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