Georgia’s political world is getting a crash course in artificial intelligence, and voters are not exactly thrilled with what they are seeing. As campaigns test-drive deepfake videos, fear-stoking AI ads and even candidate chatbots, Georgians from both parties are signaling they want the state to step in and set some rules.
A new poll shows broad support for tighter guardrails on campaign tech, even as AI tools spread across the ballot. From a doctored clip of Sen. Jon Ossoff to an Islamophobic ad in the lieutenant governor’s race and a gubernatorial “Dean Machine” chatbot, the state has become an early test case for how synthetic media could reshape elections.
Poll Shows Bipartisan Appetite For Rules
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, nearly four in five Democrats in Georgia and about two-thirds of Republicans say the government should do more to regulate AI. That is a rare point of bipartisan agreement in a deeply divided state.
“The challenge before us is not whether AI will impact elections, it already has,” state Rep. Todd Jones told the paper, arguing that lawmakers now have to craft “responsible safeguards.” The outlet detailed how campaigns are already tapping generative AI for biographical content, ads and interactive tools, all of which are quietly shaping how voters see the candidates long before Election Day.
Provocative 'Sharia' Spot Draws Fire
Some of those AI experiments have gone way past the line for critics. As reported by Georgia Recorder, state Sen. Greg Dolezal's campaign pushed out an AI-generated ad that portrayed Muslims terrorizing quiet suburban neighborhoods and closed with the punch line, “Keep Georgia Sharia free.”
The spot triggered bipartisan backlash and was incendiary enough that one Democratic state senator switched races and jumped into the lieutenant governor contest specifically in response to the imagery. Faith leaders and other critics labeled the ad Islamophobic and dangerous. Dolezal defended the tactic as a blunt appeal to cultural concerns, but the uproar showed how quickly synthetic media can inflame an already tense political climate.
Deepfake of Ossoff Signals Stakes
Last fall, the stakes of AI in campaigning became even clearer when Rep. Mike Collins’ campaign posted a video that used AI to literally put words in Sen. Jon Ossoff’s mouth. The short clip appeared to show Ossoff saying that one of his votes would hurt farmers.
CBS News Atlanta reported that the campaign included a small on-screen disclosure saying the video was AI-generated. Critics countered that the label was so tiny it was almost impossible to read on a phone and that the footage was inherently misleading even with the fine print.
Ossoff’s campaign responded by pledging not to use deepfakes at all and by pressing for tougher and clearer disclosure rules. The flap showed how a single AI-fueled attack ad can blur the line between satire and disinformation, leaving voters to sort out what is real.
Chatbots Turn Candidates Into 24/7 Interfaces
Not every AI tool on the trail is designed to deceive. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also reported on Republican gubernatorial candidate Clark Dean’s “Dean Machine,” a chatbot trained on his policy positions to answer voter questions and quietly collect data.
In one exchange quoted by the paper, the chatbot even riffed on Dean’s own chances, saying, “If I lose having made that case honestly, I can live with that.” It was a moment that highlighted the upside of AI-powered outreach, along with the political risk: one odd or clumsy answer on a volatile topic is only a screenshot away from going viral.
Campaigns argue that these digital surrogates can deepen engagement and make candidates more accessible around the clock. Experts warn that a single flawed response, especially on a hot-button issue, could quickly spiral into a full-blown reputation problem.
Where The Law Stands
Georgia lawmakers have started trying to catch up with the technology. This spring, the General Assembly advanced measures that would require disclosure for certain political chatbots, add new child-safety language related to AI tools, and bar insurers from denying coverage based solely on automated AI outputs, according to the legislative record. The full text and current status of the bills are posted by the Georgia General Assembly.
At the national level, the Federal Election Commission has been weighing whether to tighten rules on deceptive AI in campaign ads. The Associated Press documented the agency’s 2023 move to examine whether existing campaign regulations can stretch to cover deepfakes. For now, that leaves a patchwork of emerging state policies and federal deliberations, with no clear answer on how enforcement will keep up.
For Georgia voters, this is no longer a theoretical debate. Many are backing clear disclosures, narrow and time-limited restrictions, and real penalties aimed at preserving the basic ability to tell fact from fabrication. The question now facing lawmakers in Atlanta and regulators in Washington is whether they can turn that public unease into workable rules before the next wave of synthetic campaign ads changes what voters believe and why.
The coming months will show whether those guardrails can be written fast enough to keep up with AI, without choking off legitimate political speech in a state where the margins are thin and the incentives to stretch the rules are strong.
