Candidates for NJ governor are using AI in their ads in new ways. Is it ethical?

Candidates for New Jersey governor on both sides of the aisle are pushing the envelope with the use of artificial intelligence in their political ads.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat, and former radio show host Bill Spadea, a Republican, are each breaking new ground with AI in their ads.

Gottheimer’s campaign made an AI-generated version of the candidate fighting President Donald Trump in a boxing ring. Spadea’s campaign used AI to generate a voice recording verbalizing statements that had been previously attributed to his primary opponent Jack Ciattarelli in print.

The use of AI is disclosed in both ads, but experts question the ethics of using the technology and how effective it is at getting their message across to voters.

“‘I’m not surprised to see campaigns using AI in their political ads, but I do think it’s a risky choice in the sense that voters don’t like to feel like they’re being misled,” said Sarah Shugars, an assistant professor at Rutgers School of Communication and Information who researches political communication.

Different iterations of Gottheimer as a boxer can be seen in his ad called “Born Fighter,“ like Gottheimer as a young boy wearing boxing gloves and a muscular Gottheimer sparring with President Donald Trump in a boxing ring.

In reality, Gottheimer is not a professional boxer. (He said he has, however, “done a bunch of kickboxing.”)

Gottheimer also has not posed wearing a boxing glove next to former Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, as the ad also shows. But another photo in the ad of the lawmaker (sans boxing glove) with Clinton, whom he worked for earlier in his political career, is genuine, according to his campaign.

Gottheimer said his campaign made the ad because he wants to “use every tool in the tool kit.”

“I want to make it clear I’m not afraid to get in the ring with this guy and go round after round until we win,” he said in an interview. “… And this was just a creative way to convey that point.”

» READ MORE: Taking on Donald Trump has become a requirement in the Democratic primary for N.J. governor

A small disclaimer says “AI generated imagery” in the beginning of the ad, and the video ends by displaying the phrase: “AI generated. Tax cuts are real.” The ad, which also features Gottheimer speaking to the camera, does not disclose which parts were made with AI and which parts were not.

The ad has aired in New York and Philadelphia broadcast and streaming markets.

Gottheimer said the use of AI in the ad is “very, very clear,” and experts agree, at least in part.

Shugars, who compared the ad to a political cartoon, said that while it is clear the boxing match is AI-generated, it is unclear whether the other images are real.

Jim Samuel, the executive director of the Informatics Program at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, said that while Gottheimer’s ad makes for a good laugh, he does not believe it is an effective tool to persuade voters.

“There are a lot of people who are more than happy to use AI for entertainment,” Samuel said. “But when it comes to decision making, a lot of people go back to fundamental information based, fact-based decision making.”

On the Republican side, Spadea’s ad titled “Why did Jack Ciattarelli already lose twice for Governor?” highlights Ciattarelli‘s unsuccessful 2017 and 2021 gubernatorial runs and his past negative remarks about Trump, who endorsed him earlier this month.

In the ad, an AI-generated voice based on Ciattarelli’s repeats statements about Trump that Ciattarelli was quoted in print as saying in the past. Real footage of Ciattarelli plays before and after the statements, but a faint disclaimer appears on the screen while the AI speaks: “Actual quotes from Jack Ciattarelli. Voice recording using AI.”

Spadea repurposed the AI components into another ad, called “Loyalty Matters,” in which he contrasts the fake Ciattarelli voice with a recording of Trump saying Spadea has “had [his] back from the beginning.” The ad has aired on streaming services in New York and Philadelphia markets.

These ads have allowed Spadea to throw attacks back at Ciattarelli, whose campaign — as well as a super PAC supporting him — has platformed old footage of Spadea criticizing Trump in ads.

» READ MORE: GOP candidates court Trump at Bedminster

Shugars said that the AI-generated voice could make viewers question whether other parts of the video are authentic, or even if the quotes are real. And viewers who miss the fact that AI was used may find out later and feel misled.

Samuel said he takes issue with the method because of how the tone could be construed.

“If he actually said it and there’s a recording, then play the recording. If he said it and it was only documented in text, then I think it is wrong,” Samuel said. “How a thing is said is as important as what was said.”

Carlos Cruz, an executive vice president at Jamestown Associates, the national political advertising firm that made Trump’s ads in 2016 and 2020, who also works for the super PAC that runs attack ads on Spadea, said the two ads bring AI “from the background to the foreground.”

Cruz has seen AI renderings of buildings in political ads, for example, but said he never saw candidates use AI versions of themselves for an ad the way Gottheimer did. Campaigns previously would have hired actors and a camera crew and rented out a boxing rink for a similar ad. He has heard ad makers consider how to use this sort of technology, but the issue is “people struggle to believe political ads as they are,” he said.

“The whole point of advertising is to persuade,” he said. “If I can’t believe what my eyes are seeing, like, are you persuading?”'

Some states require the disclosure of deepfakes in political ads or prohibit them a certain number of days prior to the election, but New Jersey does not.

A 2024 bill that would prohibit deceptive deepfakes 90 days prior to an election passed the New Jersey Assembly but has not advanced out of the Senate.

There is no comprehensive set of AI regulations in the U.S., and Republicans in Congress have tried to include a provision banning state-level AI regulations in a tax bill in the works.

Even in Europe, which has more AI regulations, Samuel said, “there is nothing that people with lawyers cannot manage.”

“AI regulation is, I think, very, very much the same as a story of a half-baked cake,” Samuel said. “We can’t say that there’s no cake, and yet it’s half-baked, so no one can eat it. So there’s no benefit to the people.”