'Bigoted territory' New York campaign shows use of AI in elections is here to stay

The New York City mayoral election may be remembered for the remarkable win of a young democratic socialist, but it was also marked by something likely to permeate future elections: the use of AI-generated campaign videos.

- Adam Gabbatt

Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Zohran Mamdani in last week's election, took particular interest in sharing deepfake videos of his opponent, including one that saw the former governor accused of racism, in what is a developing area of electioneering.

AI has been used by campaigns before, particularly in using algorithms to target certain voters, and even, in some cases, to write policy proposals. But as AI software develops, it is increasingly being used to produce sometimes misleading photos and videos.

"I think what's really broken through in this election cycle has been the use of generative AI to produce content that goes directly to voters," said Alex Bores, a New York state representative who has been at the forefront of introducing laws to regulate the use of AI.

"So whether that was the Cuomo campaign that used ChatGPT to generate its housing plan, or Cuomo and many others making AI-generated video ads for voters, that, I think, felt very new in the 2025 cycle."