AI-made midterm ads pass $137 million, and about 70% carry no AI label

Campaigns and political action committees have spent more than $137 million on AI generated or AI enhanced midterm ads, and about 70 percent of them carry no AI label, according to Wesleyan Media Project and AdImpact data reported by the New York Times. The figure is up from $80 million in earlier tracking this cycle, 17 days before the November 3 vote. The same reporting notes the pro AI Leading the Future network has raised over $140 million and paid about $20 million to a Nevada company that Wired found only at a post office box, with a Campaign Legal Center FEC complaint pending since May before a commission that has lacked a quorum since May 2025.

Coverage so far rests on a single reporting chain, AI Weekly Issue 539 summarizing the New York Times, Wired, and Wesleyan and AdImpact data; this item will be updated as the underlying tracking or the FEC acts.

Sources: AI Weekly Issue 539