Political campaigns have poured $137 million on AI-made ads ahead of a crucial midterm—after spending virtually nothing last election cycle

Just two years ago, ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the use of AI in political ads was nearly unheard of.

Today, it’s a nine-figure budget line.

A new report from the Wesleyan University-based research group Wesleyan Media Project found more than $137 million in spending on 220 campaign videos made at least partly with AI through Oct.

11, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

By comparison, the group detected less than $50,000 in spending on AI-generated ads in 2024 campaigns.

“It is a large number, definitely, especially when you consider we went from about zero in spending on AI ads in the last election cycle,” Travis Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project and professor of political science at Washington State University, told Fortune.

“That’s what’s really striking.” The magnitude of funding being poured into AI ads is not just evidence of how consequential this election cycle is, but also how pervasive artificial intelligence has become in content creation.

The use of AI can range from a replacement for stock footage like a handshake to the likeness of a candidate.

But the broad use of AI without much restriction or regulation has raised concern among both candidates and researchers about the spread of misinformation from the ads.

More than 70% of AI campaign videos did not contain a disclaimer or disclosure that they were generated by or contain AI, the report found.

AI ads have taken the forefront of some of the U.S.’s most contentious and expensive campaigns, including the Texas Senate race between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton.

One Paxton campaign ad depicted an AI-generated Talarico writing in a Bible with a crayon and delivering a fabricated monologue on God and gender.

Talarico responded by saying he has tried to ban AI deepfakes through legislation “because they are misleading.” “They are lying about a candidate in this race,” Talarico said.

As the new technology pervades the campaign trail ahead of a crucial midterm election, Ridout warned the consequences of AI ads go beyond just individual elections and have the potential to shape the very psychology of elections more broadly.