Fanatical and fake AI avatars rally for Trump ahead of US midterms
Deceptively real AI influencers are flooding social networks with political propaganda and influencing millions of users in the US election campaign. Experts warn that online manipulation will be even harder to detect in future.
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- AI-generated influencers are flooding social platforms with political propaganda in favor of Donald Trump and attacking his opponents at the same time.
- Researchers and the media are exposing more and more hyper-realistic fake accounts that deliberately influence opinions and spread disinformation.
- Experts warn that AI is massively changing the election campaign and will make online manipulation even more difficult to detect in future.
There is still almost six months to go until the mid-term elections for the US Congress, but the election campaign on online services has long been in full swing: blonde women in swimsuits or military uniforms shower Donald Trump with praise in videos and denigrate his opponents. These fans of the US president seem real, but they are actually products of artificial intelligence (AI). Disinformation has long been on the rise before elections, but AI is taking manipulation to a new level.
"Trump is the future of America", says an AI-generated Tiktok video showing a young person on the beach with the US flag flying in the background. "If you voted for Trump, say it out loud in the comments and you'll have a new follower from Texas," promises a computer-generated woman in another clip. Hyper-realistic AI avatars that parrot Trump's political slogans such as "America First" and advocate his positions on issues such as migration are currently flooding the platforms.
Trump also uses AI avatars for disinformation
It is unclear who is behind these fake accounts. It is also unclear whether this is a coordinated campaign in the run-up to the election in November, which will determine whether Trump's Republicans retain control of Congress. Earlier this year, the President himself posted a video on his Truth Social platform of a glamorous platinum blonde AI avatar spreading false allegations of corruption against California Governor Gavin Newsom of the opposition Democrats.
In recent months, US media have exposed hundreds of AI-generated influencers - young men and women, some portrayed as immigration officials, who have spoken out in Trump's favor on controversial political issues such as abortion or the Iran war. The Grail AI Research Center at Purdue University also tracked down numerous such accounts on Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook.
Commercial goals are often at the forefront
One AI influencer on Instagram, who posted pictures of a lifelike female soldier posing next to Trump, amassed almost a million followers before the account was blocked. "I'm really speechless at how many guys are following influencers who are clearly AI," commented AI expert Justine Moore from investment firm Andreessen Horowitz on Platform X about the case.
There is also AI-generated propaganda on the opposing side. A video on Facebook shows Trump fleeing from a mob armed with swords in scruffy clothes on a tricycle.
Automated bots, trolls and fake accounts have been spreading fake news for years ahead of elections and thus affecting political discourse. AI multiplies the potential for manipulation. Researchers warn that deepfakes can influence elections and distort geopolitical events.
The faces, voices and arguments of AI influencers appear genuine and create the illusion of a real political movement. However, there is not always a political interest behind such accounts; some are clearly interested in commerce. An artificial Trump influencer on Instagram directs users to a website where works of art are sold at prices of up to 500 dollars.
Daniel Schiff from Purdue University expects the number of political AI influencers to increase between now and the election in November: "But many of them are pursuing commercial goals and using politics more as a means to an end."