Generative AI in Electoral Campaigns: Mapping Global Patterns

The report analyzes 215 recorded GenAI incidents across 50 countries during 2024 elections, finding that 80% of these countries experienced such incidents. GenAI was primarily used for synthetic content production, with 69% of cases deemed harmful to electoral integrity. Attribution is a significant challenge, as 46% of sources remained unknown, while political candidates and foreign actors accounted for 25% and 20% of incidents, respectively.

• Generative AI was prevalent in 2024 elections, with 80% of countries holding competitive national elections experiencing GenAI incidents. The highest number of recorded incidents occurred in India and the USA, with 30 incidents each.
• The primary application of GenAI in elections is content production, accounting for 90% of recorded incidents. This includes the creation of audio messages, images, videos, and text used to impersonate figures or spread falsehoods, such as a synthetic video in Bangladesh falsely showing candidate Abdullah Nahid Nigar withdrawing from a race.
• Attribution of GenAI content is difficult, as the source was unknown in 46% of cases. Among identifiable sources, political candidates and parties were responsible for 25% of incidents, and foreign actors for 20%.
• The majority of GenAI applications in elections were harmful, with 69% of recorded incidents playing a detrimental role. Notably, 100% of GenAI use attributed to foreign actors served harmful purposes, such as coordinated Russian and Chinese AI-generated voice content in the Solomon Islands election.
• While predominantly harmful, GenAI has been used constructively by some political actors. Approximately 38% of uses by national political parties and candidates were categorized as beneficial, including the use of GenAI-powered chatbots in Japan to engage voters.
• GenAI use has had severe institutional impacts in some regions; in Romania, coordinated GenAI deployment contributed to the annulment of presidential election results.

APA

Trauthig, I., Valenzuela, S., & Howard, P. (2025). Generative AI in Electoral Campaigns: Mapping Global Patterns. International Panel on the Information Environment. https://www.ipie.info/research/sfp2025-1

Chicago

Trauthig, Inga, Sebastián Valenzuela, and Philip Howard. Generative AI in Electoral Campaigns: Mapping Global Patterns. International Panel on the Information Environment, 2025. https://www.ipie.info/research/sfp2025-1.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Trauthig |first1=Inga |last2=Valenzuela |first2=Sebastián |last3=Howard |first3=Philip |title=Generative AI in Electoral Campaigns: Mapping Global Patterns |publisher=International Panel on the Information Environment |date=2025 |url=https://www.ipie.info/research/sfp2025-1 |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{trauthig2025generative, author = {Trauthig, Inga and Valenzuela, Sebastián and Howard, Philip}, title = {{Generative AI in Electoral Campaigns: Mapping Global Patterns}}, institution = {International Panel on the Information Environment}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.ipie.info/research/sfp2025-1}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }