Stories about AI-generated political content are like stories about people drunkenly setting off fireworks: There's a good chance they'll end in disaster. WIRED is tracking AI usage in political campaigns across the world, and so far examples include pornographic deepfakes and misinformation-spewing chatbots. It's gotten to the point where the US Federal Communications Commission has proposed mandatory disclosures for AI use in television and radio ads. Despite concerns, some US political campaigns are embracing generative AI tools. There's a growing category of AI-generated political content flying under the radar this election cycle, developed by startups including Denver-based BattlegroundAI, which uses generative AI to come up with digital advertising copy at a rapid clip.

A new ad featuring an AI-generated Taylor Swift offering a giveaway of high-end cookware is not the real deal. An ad for Le Creuset appeared on social media this month, featuring a likeness of Swift and a fake version of her voice with images of the company's cookware to promote a giveaway, according to multiple outlets. "Hey you all, it's Taylor Swift here," the voice says, according to NBC News. A spokesperson for Meta, Facebook's parent company, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the ad has been removed from the platform. WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? Taylor Swift's AI-generated likeness and voice were used in an unauthorized ad for cookware company Le Creuset.

Google has spent the past few weeks promoting generative AI tools that can summarize search results for users, help them draft essays, and swap out overcast skies for sunshine in otherwise perfect family photos. Today it's showing off what similar tools could do for its core business--selling ads. New generative AI systems for advertising clients will compose text on the fly to play off what a person is searching for, and they'll whip up product images to save them time and money on design work. The features add to the swelling ranks of AI-based text and image generators that have been introduced to online services over the past few months, since the abilities of ChatGPT and its image counterpart DALL-E inspired global excitement about generative AI. As the world's top seller of online ads by revenue, Google has been using AI programs for years to help clients target users, as well as helping them design ads, like by automatically editing the size of images.

Tom Newhouse, vice president of Convergence Media, discusses the potential impact of artificial intelligence on elections after an RNC AI ad garnered attention. A House Democrat proposed legislation this week that would require political campaign ads to make it clear to viewers when generative artificial intelligence is used to produce video or images in those ads, an idea that is a response to an AI-generated ad against President Biden that was released last week. Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said in a statement introducing her bill that AI has become a factor in the upcoming campaign and needs to be regulated so people can understand what they hear and see on television. "The upcoming 2024 election cycle will be the first time in U.S. history where AI generated content will be used in political ads by campaigns, parties, and Super PACs," she said. "Unfortunately, our current laws have not kept pace with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies."

It's not a huge surprise that the Republican National Committee (RNC) had attack ads ready to go whenever President Joe Biden officially announced his re-election campaign. What's novel this time is that the video uses imagery generated by artificial intelligence to present the RNC's vision of what the world may look like if Biden wins again in 2024. The RNC told Axios it was the first time it had used a video that was made entirely with AI. The ad starts by depicting Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at an election victory party. Although there's a faint disclaimer in the top-left corner noting that the ad was "built entirely with AI imagery," there's a dead giveaway that it's not a real photo of Biden and Harris -- both of the smiling, AI-generated figures have far too many teeth.