New Campaign Disclosures Reveal How Much American Political Campaigns Spend on AI Tools
Though politicians are quiet about how they use AI, the book Rewiring Democracy examines how AI is starting to influence American politics
TL;DR
- Over $17 million has been disclosed in spending on AI technology vendors by 523 federal candidates and campaigns since 2020.
- OpenAI and Anthropic are seeing usage from both Republican and Democratic campaigns, with different partisan leanings.
- Specialized AI campaign software such as AmplifAI, Daisychain, Campaign Nucleus, and Prompt.io are major targets of spending.
- State-level AI spending is smaller but growing rapidly, with Daisychain and OpenAI dominating.
- Disclosed spending on AI tools for creating deepfakes (audio and video) is minimal, though AI-generated media is appearing in political ads.
- The true extent of AI usage in campaigns is likely much larger than disclosed, as consultants and PACs are not required to report detailed expenditures.