No disclosure requirement for AI-generated political advertising has cleared the Georgia legislature, even as such content grows more prevalent ahead of the midterm elections, leaving the origin of campaign material unverifiable for many voters.
A digital advertisement now in circulation depicts Sen. Jon Ossoff seated in a salon chair while receiving hair and makeup services. Artificial intelligence tools were used in producing the advertisement.
The advertisement features a voice presented as belonging to a grandmother, delivering lines claiming that Jon Ossoff spends more on personal grooming than any politician in Washington — including female ones — and that while his words come across as polished, his record tells a different story.
Augusta University political science professor Dr. Lance Hunter noted that artificial intelligence tools have the capacity to make political messaging more persuasive and to expand the volume of content that campaigns can produce. Hunter explained that the concern centres on political advertisements that misrepresent candidates — particularly through fabricated depictions that place a person in situations or actions they never actually engaged in, a capability that sets this technology apart from older forms of deception.
Trevor Potter, a former chair of the federal election oversight body, submitted written testimony before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee arguing that without adequate safeguards the technology held the potential to distort factual information and undermine the public's ability to govern itself.
Data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that 31 states have enacted laws addressing the use of deepfakes in political advertising and campaign communications. Of those 31 states, three have moved to outright ban certain deepfake content while the remaining 28 instead require that such material carry a disclosure.
Neither Georgia — the state Ossoff represents — nor South Carolina has enacted legislation covering AI-generated content in political advertising.
Sponsorship attribution for the advertisement falls to SLF PAC, a disclosure placed at the closing of the spot. The Senate Leadership Fund's self-description, drawn from its own website, positions the group as the sole outside organization devoted entirely to maintaining and growing Republican control of the Senate, a characterization that includes language about deploying campaign tactics to counter Democratic electoral efforts. That same website also hosts numerous videos produced using artificial intelligence.
Requests for comment went to Sen. Jon Ossoff, Rep. Mike Collins, and the Senate Leadership Fund. Ossoff was the sole respondent, with a written statement expressing concern that deepfake technology was being deployed to manufacture political advertisements, and warning that such a practice placed the integrity of political discourse on an uncertain path.
