RALEIGH, N.C. — Campaigns in North Carolina can run political ads built with artificial intelligence without telling voters, because the state has no law requiring that kind of label, even as AI-made spots show up in a closely watched mountain congressional race.
Thirty-one states have now passed laws governing deepfakes in political messages, based on a national tally of state legislation. North Carolina is not on that list.
Those states have mostly gone one of two ways. Some require a disclaimer on altered or synthetic media, while California, Minnesota and Texas go further and bar publishing political deepfakes within a set number of days before an election.
The issue landed in western North Carolina this month. The National Republican Congressional Committee is accused of using AI to produce an ad attacking Democrat Jamie Ager, who is running against Republican Jennifer Balkcom for the open 11th District seat. A performer whose image appears in the spot has sent cease-and-desist letters to the Balkcom campaign and the state GOP, saying it was used without permission. The committee has defended the spot, and the Ager campaign has called the AI ads fake.
The spending behind such ads is climbing nationally. A Wesleyan University tracking project counts more than $137 million spent on AI-made ads by campaigns and political action committees so far this year.
Voters are uneasy about it. A September Catawba College and YouGov online survey of 1,200 people found 68% were very or somewhat concerned about AI in this year midterm campaigns. Just over half, 52%, said they felt confident they could tell real political content from AI-generated material, while 39% said they were not.
Election Day is Nov. 3, and in-person early voting continues across the state through Saturday, Oct. 31.
Section: More Raleigh NC politics news
Filed under: Raleigh NC Politics News
