AI-generated fear messages finding audience, professor says
Fear-based election messages made with artificial intelligence are finding an audience in the election campaign, University of Canterbury digital marketing professor Ekant Veer says.
He told RNZ's Morning Report that fast, affordable AI-generated material was having a mixed effect. It worked for a target audience worried about the future, while others pushed it away.
One example was a Taxpayers' Union election ad that used AI-generated footage depicting Labour leader Chris Hipkins stealing wallets, according to RNZ. The union said its policy is to always disclose AI use. It said its most recent election advert was clearly so over the top as to be satire.
Veer said people under 30 were more likely to reject AI-generated images as inauthentic, while older viewers were more susceptible to accepting the content at face value. He said young people describe AI-generated images as 'slop' and say they do not want to see it.
He said Facebook, typically used by people aged 30-plus, sees more AI going uncontested. Instagram, typically used by people 25 and under, sees audiences quickly reject AI slop.
The Electoral Commission said it used AI to generate six clearly labelled social media images as a small part of a larger campaign. The images were created following workshops with young people who wanted enrolment and voting information delivered in a fun way, the commission said.
Bogus news sites on Facebook have separately shared deepfake AI videos purporting to show New Zealand politicians meeting at Waitangi, according to The Conversation.
