AI-generated and AI-enhanced ads became routine in the 2026 midterms. By September 4, the Wesleyan Media Project had identified at least 164 such ads backed by just under $80 million, and 69% of them carried no disclaimer about AI use. For campaigns, advocacy groups and brands, the lesson is that cheap production doesn't make an ad persuasive, and putting fabricated words or actions on real people can cost more credibility than it buys.
The cycle AI went mainstream
The 2026 midterms were the first cycle where AI-made campaign ads were normal, not novel. By September 4, the Wesleyan Media Project had identified at least 164 political ads generated or enhanced with AI, backed by just under $80 million. Newsweek later cited the project's October count of more than $137 million on 220 ads. The researchers say both numbers are undercounts.
The detail I keep coming back to: 69% of the ads Wesleyan identified had no disclaimer about AI use. There's no federal rule requiring one.
Newsweek's roundup of the season reads like a meme feed. A rival rewriting Genesis while wearing a crown. Opponents gardening while plotting higher costs. A Senate candidate crashing a birthday party to eat the leftover cake. All AI-generated, all about real people.
Cheap to make, cheap to test
The economics changed. Josh Bramlett at the University of Alabama told Newsweek that campaigns can now make dozens of digital variants and see which ones get traction. That part I don't mind. Testing creative is smart, and fast iteration is how good campaign work gets made on a deadline.
What I'd question is the assumption that louder means better. Northwestern's Alexander Coppock, also in Newsweek, found no link between how emotionally intense an ad is and how well it changes minds. One ad moved vote choice by under a point on average in the experiments he cited. So the absurd version gets the shares and the cable segment. It doesn't obviously get the vote.
Fake footage spends real credibility
This is where it stops being a political story and becomes a brand story. When you put invented words or actions on a real person, you're asking the audience to trust your edit over their own eyes. Some sponsors call it satire. Fine. But once viewers expect fakes, they start doubting the real footage too, including yours.
Newsweek notes one candidate answered by saying flatly that he doesn't use AI in his ads. That's a creative strategy, not just a policy. Authenticity became a differentiator because everyone else made it scarce.
What I'd carry into 2028
For advocacy groups, associations and the brands that run issue campaigns, a few rules I'd write into the creative brief now:
- Label AI work plainly, even where the law doesn't require it.
- Never fabricate a real person's words or actions. Use their actual record.
- Use AI for the scaffolding, like storyboards, versioning and resizing, not for the evidence.
- Keep real people on camera. Supporters, staff, the folks the issue actually affects.
As a White Sox fan, I know you can't fake your way out of a rebuild. The fundamentals still decide it. In campaign creative, the fundamental is that people believe what you show them. Protect that first.
Questions we hear a lot
How common were AI-generated ads in the 2026 midterms?
The Wesleyan Media Project identified at least 164 political ads generated or enhanced with AI by September 4, 2026, with just under $80 million in estimated spending, and called that an undercount. Newsweek later cited the project's October findings of more than $137 million on 220 such ads.
Do political ads have to disclose AI use?
Not under federal law. The Wesleyan Media Project notes there are no federal mandates requiring a disclaimer when AI tools are used in political ads, and 69% of the AI ads it identified by September had none. Some states and ad platforms set their own rules, so check the ones that apply to your campaign.
Are more outrageous ads more persuasive?
Not necessarily. Newsweek reports that Northwestern political scientist Alexander Coppock found no link between how emotionally intense an ad is and how well it changes minds; a single ad shifted vote choice by an average of roughly 0.7 to 0.8 percentage points in the experiments he cited.
Sources
- Wesleyan Media Project: At Least $80 Million Spent on AI Ads This Cycle (Sept 4, 2026)
- Newsweek: How Political Ads Became More Bizarre Than Ever Ahead of the 2026 Midterms
- Wesleyan Media Project: latest releases
Filed under Public Affairs
Evan Walker
Founder & Creative Director at Satellite Black, with experience across a broad range of industries working as a Creative Director, Developer, and strategist.
