Sen. Jon Ossoff, the Georgia D-Ga. senator, got himself into hot water with a campaign ad that used AI generated video to put words in his Republican opponent’s mouth. The attack ad sparked headlines and ethical questions, but here’s the thing everyone’s missing: this isn’t really about artificial intelligence. Politicians have been lying and making stuff up about their rivals since Ancient Greek times. The technology changed. The dishonesty didn’t.
Politicians Didn’t Just Start Lying Yesterday
Go back to 12th Century B.C.E. The Greek army couldn’t crack Troy, so they built a large wooden horse, stuffed it full of soldiers, and left it behind like a gift. The Trojans took it into their city. You know how that war ended. It took cunning, sure, but also a whole lot of deception.
Plato spent considerable time criticizing the sophists in Ancient Greek society because these teachers emphasized winning arguments over telling the truth. Over in Roman times, around 94 C.E., Quintilian warned his students about using persuasive words without ethical grounding. The point? Politicians and public figures have always found ways of faking images, fabricated stories, and twisting reality. They just didn’t have computers to do it.
Same Tricks, Shinier Tools
Ben Franklin wasn’t above stretching the truth back in 1782. He freely altered details in his writings to help sway public opinion toward the colonies breaking free from the British. His words helped shape how European powers viewed the independence movement, even when he played loose with facts.
Jump ahead to 1895. Hudson River School painters like Albert Bierstadt created these glowing, romanticized paintings of the American West. Were they accurate? Not really. Did they help shape federal policy and encourage westward expansion? Absolutely. The visuals looked stunning. Reality was a bit different.
Then there’s William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate. Story goes he sent a reporter to Cuba to cover an insurrection. The reporter cabled back saying everything was quiet—no war happening. Hearst supposedly replied: “You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish the war.” Whether that exchange actually happened exactly that way doesn’t matter. It shows how media outlets and powerful figures have long understood that controlling information presented to the public means controlling opinion.
Focus on the Lie, Not the Technology
Here’s what bugs me about the coverage of Ossoff’s anti-Ossoff mess. Everyone’s writing headlines about deepfakes and AI generated video. But let’s say he’d hired an impersonator or a comedian pretending to be his opponent. Let’s say he used old-fashioned recording equipment to splice audio together. Would that make it acceptable?
The problem isn’t that he used artificial intelligence. The problem is he deliberately put words in someone’s mouth that they never said. That’s lying. Call it what it is.
Bob Menendez, the D-N.J senator, dealt with fake news and fabricated stories about him back in 2018. Those didn’t need fancy AI—just people willing to make stuff up. President Trump spent years calling out fake images and questioning news coverage. Sometimes he had a point. Sometimes he was deflecting from real stories. The technology used to create false information keeps changing. The ethics haven’t.
We’re Debating the Wrong Thing
Piers Morgan and other media figures have condemned campaigns using deepfakes. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., talked about the chilling implications when his office got asked about AI in politics. The National Republican Senatorial Committee raised concerns. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made it clear he’s worried about where this goes.
They’re right to worry. But they’re worried about the wrong thing. The most recent example that should concern you isn’t just that politicians can now use AI generated content. It’s what happens next. If everything can potentially be fake, then anything can be falsely dismissed as fake.
See the actual problem? When you can’t trust video, audio, or visuals anymore, skepticism stops being healthy and starts becoming cynicism. That cynicism eats away at democracies. It undermines institutions. It turns trust in leaders into quicksand.
When Everything’s Fake, Nothing’s Real
During the 2024 federal government shutdown concerns, an AI generated voice appeared reading a statement that sounded completely real. Local media outlets initially ran with it. The images looked legit. The coverage seemed appropriately sourced. Then people realized it was all generated.
Now here’s where it gets messy. A politician says something awful on recording. It’s real. They really said it. But now they can claim it’s a deepfake. They can point to that shutdown example and say, “See? You can’t trust anything anymore.” Real accountability disappears.
Voters end up in this impossible position. You see a video of a candidate saying something shocking. Is it real? Is it AI generated? Should you believe what you’re seeing? The information presented through news outlets becomes suspect. Skepticism is good. Cynicism that makes you distrust everything kills democracy.
Getting This Right Actually Matters
The Supreme Court looked at cases involving impersonating public figures in 2021, but the ethical gray areas around AI and lying in campaigns remain enormous. Different states have different rules. The federal government hasn’t settled on clear guidelines. Meanwhile, politicians keep testing boundaries.
You need some level of trust to make democracies work. Not blind trust—a balanced, healthy dose of skepticism grounded in basic trust that most information you’re getting is real. When that goes away, when everything becomes questionable and anything can be dismissed, you’re left with nothing solid to stand on.
The debate needs to focus on lying, not on artificial intelligence. If a politician uses deepfakes to make opponents appear saying things they never said, that’s lying. Punish the lying. The tool doesn’t matter. What matters is using any tool—whether it’s AI generated video, an impersonator, or fabricated stories—ethically and appropriately.
This problem has been around since that wooden horse rolled up to Troy. Technology just makes lying easier and more convincing. But making stuff up about political opponents was wrong in 12th Century B.C.E., it was wrong when Hearst was running his newspaper empire, and it’s wrong now in 2024. The year changes. The ethics shouldn’t.
