A new PAC supporting East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen’s campaign for Congress seems to have found a novel way of promoting their candidate without coordinating with his campaign: generating an AI version of Cohen and letting “him” do the talking.
Earlier this week, Voice of the Electorate (shortened as VOTE) reported spending $41,000 on pro-Cohen digital and TV ads in the 12th congressional district. Those ads are available on VOTE’s website, and they’re composed almost entirely of AI-generated imagery and dialogue, including what appears to be both real and deepfaked footage of Cohen himself.
“You need to solve people’s problems. You need to understand where they’re coming from, and what the stresses are in their lives,” AI-Cohen says in one ad. The ad later features both genuine videos of Cohen and AI-generated generic stock footage, while an AI voiceover praises Cohen’s efforts to lower taxes in East Brunswick.
A small tag at the end of the ads discloses their use of AI: “Portions of this advertisement have been generated by artificial intelligence.”
Not much is known yet about VOTE, which first filed FEC paperwork on April 30 but hasn’t yet reported any donors. A Cohen spokesperson said that the campaign had no knowledge of the group or its motives.
VOTE’s website claims that it has spent “past 40 years uncovering how people’s beliefs drive their behaviors, building companies, teaching at Princeton, writing, and helping some of the world’s most recognized brands win in fiercely competitive markets,” though no candidate or company other than Cohen is mentioned on the site.
AI use in New Jersey political ads is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that’s likely to become increasingly widespread as the technology improves. Last year, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly)’s campaign for governor aired an ad featuring an AI-generated boxing matchup between the congressman and President Donald Trump; an ad from Republican Bill Spadea also utilized AI to narrate quotes from his primary opponent, Jack Ciattarelli.
There have been proposals in the New Jersey State Legislature to restrict how AI can be used in political advertising, but proponents of new regulations have focused on preventing deepfakes from being used to malign candidates, not promote them.