A.I.-Generated Ads Flood the Midterms, and Teenager Kills 4 at Oregon Elementary School

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Tracy Mumford (0:17)

From the New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, October 16th. Here's what we're covering.

Across the country, TV and social media have been flooded with a wave of political ads that were made with AI.

SPEAKER_3 (0:36)

Hi, I'm Zeran Mamdani.

SPEAKER_4 (0:38)

And I'm Cathy Hokel.

SPEAKER_3 (0:40)

And together we're making New York.

Ted Cruz (0:41)

Don't say affordable.

SPEAKER_8 (0:43)

Right.

Tracy Mumford (0:44)

An analysis by a research group at Wesleyan University looked at more than 200 midterm ads that used AI-generated imagery and found that candidates and political action groups spent nearly $140 million promoting them.

SPEAKER_7 (0:59)

Mask off. Rob Sand and Josh Churik.

SPEAKER_8 (1:01)

Radicals on abortion.

Tracy Mumford (1:03)

The AI tweaks range from small, innocuous edits to full-on deep fakes of prominent Democratic politicians like New York Mayor Zeran Mamdani and Democrats in tight Senate races. For example, one ad from the group Make Oklahoma Great Again showed a fake clip of a Democratic candidate hugging and holding hands with Hillary Clinton. And another ad showed an AI version of Michigan's Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed laughing at cards that read, Death to America and Celebrate 9-11. According to the Wesleyan Analysis, an overwhelming majority of the ads—more than 80 percent—were produced by Republicans or groups that back the GOP.

The researchers suggested that Democrats have used AI much less because their supporters are more critical of the technology. In all, the head of the Wesleyan Media Project said there are likely many more AI-powered ads out there than what researchers found, especially because most don't have a disclaimer identifying them as AI-generated. Many lawmakers have been working to crack down on this and push for more transparency, but in 20 states, there are no laws requiring AI disclosures for political ads.

Meanwhile, with the midterms now just 18 days away, the Times has been looking at a key group of voters who could play a deciding factor — young Americans. They helped propel President Trump to victory in 2024 in a surprise rightward swing. Historically, the group was a shoe-in for Democrats. Now, though, recent Times-Sienna polling has found that young voters don't seem to be sticking with Republicans. Among young women, support for the party has plunged to just 13 percent, and less than half of young men now back the GOP.

Ruth Igielnik (3:02)

I talked to a 21-year-old in California who said he voted for Donald Trump in 2024 because he was worried about the economy and because so many of his friends were telling him that Trump would make the economy better. Now he feels like costs are spiraling and he's looking to the Democrats for answers.

Tracy Mumford (3:18)

My colleague Ruth Igielnik has been talking to young voters across the country.

Ruth Igielnik (3:22)

We talked to one man in Iowa. He's feeling really frustrated about the economy, prices of gas and housing.

He's had to have a lot of his friends take second jobs. We also talked to Remy, who lives in Kansas. He feels like Trump has gone too far on immigration. He really feels like Trump has also not done a good job on the economy. That's a theme that came up over and over and over in these conversations.

My takeaway was really that young voters are frustrated with Donald Trump. They're frustrated with Republicans. But a lot of them are also really turned off from the process. They're frustrated with both parties and many of them said that they wouldn't vote.

Tracy Mumford (3:58)

On today's episode of The Daily.

SPEAKER_4 (4:00)

If you had to rank on a scale of 1 to 10, like how much you trust both the Republican and the Democratic Party, what would you say the number is for both of them?

SPEAKER_10 (4:07)

Both are squarely at like twos and threes.

Tracy Mumford (4:10)

There's a closer look at how one young voter, a 25 year old corn and soybean farmer, is weighing whether to stick with Republicans or support the Democrats who are trying to win his vote.

SPEAKER_10 (4:23)

I view my vote now as less of like an extension of me as a citizen and more as like a weapon. Like I can withhold that vote if I need to.

And even worse, I can give that vote to the other party if I have to.

Tracy Mumford (4:46)

In a social media post yesterday, President Trump said that the controversial plan to live stream the execution of a former army officer at Fort Hood has been called off. The officer was convicted of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at the base in Texas back in 2009