The Liberal Party has launched Australia’s first political ad created entirely using artificial intelligence.
The commercial will only air in Canberra but the implications could be much broader with a federal election looming.
The agency behind the ad – Topham Guerin – has previously worked with the LNP on Scott Morrison’s winning election campaign in 2019.
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This time around, the agency has used AI-generated deep fake video to depict the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr.
“Every time it is time to vote Bob votes for the same party,” the ad’s voiceover, which is AI-generated, says.
“After 20 years of broken promises – we’re not happy Andrew.”
The use of AI is unchartered territory for political parties in Australia.
In South Korea, generating deep fake images and videos to influence an election carries up to seven years in prison.
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In Australia, AI political ads have mostly been confined to social media, the most recent example was from the Liberal National Party of Queensland.
The party drew criticism after it shared a low-quality deepfake video of premier Steven Miles dancing.
Miles expressed concern about the use of AI politics, describing it as a “dangerous turning point”.
“This individual video might be harmless enough but it represents a turning point… a pretty dangerous turning point,” he told reporters.
The federal government is considering changes to electoral advertising laws, but time is running out in the lead-up to next year’s election.
Some politicians want action on AI now, including Independent Senator David Pocock who warned it was “a threat to democracy”.
“I think we should be taking this threat very seriously,” he said.
“My concern is that the government and the parliament is asleep at the wheel.”
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