Oklahoma’s top political races are infected with AI-generated narratives, pushed by campaigns and political action committees to voters through mailers, TV commercials, and digital media ads.
So, if you can’t tell what’s real and what’s not, you’re not alone. State ethics commission director Lee Anne Bruce Boone says it’s a problem.
“We had some voters call and contact our office about it; we had a couple of office holders drop by and just show us what was going out,” Bruce Boone said. “So it just came to our attention.”
The issue of AI-generated content in politics was the top concern among members during a special meeting of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission last week, during which they began drafting new rules to rein in AI campaign content.
“The commission really spoke a lot about, you know, would the average voter know that this was artificial intelligence or synthetic media that brought this about,” Bruce Boone said. “Or would they think that this was true to fact?”
She says Oklahoma’s existing ethics rules failed to anticipate the rapid rise of AI technology, making no mention of the technology in the context of election season.
It means campaigns and political action committees registered in Oklahoma can spend money on ads with fake content meant to convince the masses to vote a certain way, and there is no accountability for using AI-generated content, such as deepfakes.
And the state’s top political contenders are taking advantage of the wild-west type policy environment. Ethics Commission data shows Oklahoma campaigns have spent nearly $60 million on advertisements across broadcast TV, radio and digital online media as of June 4.
Gubernatorial races spent more than half of that total, at $34.2 million.
Bruce Boone says it’s past time for Oklahoma to catch up to the 36 other states with rules on the use of AI in politics. But the commission has to be careful, she said, because some states have faced lawsuits over alleged speech restrictions after banning campaigns from using certain AI-produced content.
“And I think that’s why the commission is probably looking more towards transparency and disclosure rather than content regulation,” she said. “The commission doesn’t want to be the arbiter of what you can say and what you can’t say.
”Once the new rules are written and presented to the general public for input, they’ll be sent to the legislature, which could amend them before approving them for the governor — or rejecting them outright — during the next legislative session.
Here is the sample language the commission is considering, though it’s not final:
Oklahoma Ethics Commission
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Website
The Oklahoma Ethics Commission’s sample language for proposed rules around using AI-generated content in politics.
Gov. Kevin Stitt has publicly condemned the use of AI in political campaigning, and told CNN this week he’s considering a special legislative session for lawmakers to tackle the issue now. But lawmakers already rejected several bills with that aim during this year’s regular session.
Meanwhile, Stitt is termed out this year and half of the legislature is up for reelection.
So, the political will next year is unclear, because ultimately, the solution lies with the same lawmakers who are actively benefiting from AI ads.
If Oklahomans are worried about AI political ads, Bruce Boone said, the best thing they can do is keep questioning what they see and reach out to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission for guidance when they just can’t tell what’s real.
“You know, another piece of that is just being able to look at the Ethics Commission website, look on Guardian and see, okay, who’s actually supporting this candidate and where’s their campaign donations coming from?” she said. “And is that consistent with some of the messaging I’m seeing?”
