As artificial intelligence systems including the likes of chatbots and art generators become more advanced, their use has begun to pervade the political arena. 

Across the world, political leaders and parties including Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and now New Zealand’s own ACT Party, have used AI images to promote a certain political agenda or message. 

In the case of the ACT Party, an artificial stock image from Adobe AI titled “happy Māori couple sitting in a living room” was featured in a social media post underneath the tagline “Kiwis are saving over $150 per week on their mortgages since ACT entered government”.

Producer Sara spoke with University of Otago Media, Film and Communications Professor, Dr Olivier Jutel about this new era of AI political content. 

To begin, she asked him to discuss why ACTs recent social media post was so problematic.