Alarming AI ads are flooding social media in the lead-up to Victoria’s election. But who is behind them?
TL;DR
A machete-wielding robber, a ‘tsunami of debt’ … campaigns echoing opposition talking points outspend major parties Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A man clad in a balaclava and brandishing a machete terrorises a worker at a petrol station before firebombing the building on the way out. A woman gives birth on the side of the road, unable to reach a hospital due to ambulance ramping and crater-like potholes, which also stop a fire truck in its tracks. Continue reading...
Nauti's Take
The opportunity is real: producing campaign video in days instead of weeks collapses the cost of political communication, and small groups suddenly get reach on par with the major parties. The risk sits in provenance, because without disclosure rules for funding and AI use, paid outrage becomes hard to tell apart from genuine debate.
Campaign teams should label AI voluntarily now, before regulators impose something far blunter.
Sources