AI political ads in US draw $80M in spending, mostly undisclosed

Researchers at the Wesleyan Media Project tracked about $80 million spent on nearly 170 unique political ads using AI in the 2026 U.S. midterm cycle. Most of the ads do not disclose their use of AI.

• About $80M spent on AI-generated political ads in the US
• Nearly 170 unique AI ads tracked
• Most ads do not disclose AI use
• Data came from AdImpact and manual coding