AI enters Kerala poll arena, reshaping campaigns and voter perception

Kerala's upcoming elections are witnessing a surge in the use of AI-generated content by political parties aiming to sway voters, sparking debate about the ethics and impact of artificial intelligence in political campaigns.

A sea of people holding Bharatiya Janata Party flags and walking behind a political figure standing atop a jeep, waving to them, is not a public rally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah, but an AI-generated video of a saffron party candidate contesting the Kerala election.

In the AI-generated clip, BJP candidate P R Sivasankar, contesting the April 9 polls from the Ernakulam Assembly seat, appears to lead a large procession, with men, women and even children lining the streets, holding Indian tricolours and BJP flags.

The visuals are striking and convincing.

As campaigning gathers pace ahead of the crucial elections, war rooms of major political parties, including the Left, the Congress and the National Democratic Alliance, are busy creating such content to influence voters in an increasingly digitally driven society.

Compared to previous assembly polls, political messaging this time is increasingly shaped by synthetic videos and edited visuals that blur the line between reality and fiction, making it challenging for voters to tell what is real and what is not.

Yes, the real election war is aggressively fought in the digital space as well.

AI strategies of political parties

Congress candidate from Angamaly and sitting MLA Roji M John said the party is using AI-generated videos to convey its ideas to the people.

To target the ruling Left over the Sabarimala missing gold issue, the Congress has created AI-generated videos featuring Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other Left leaders, alleging their involvement.

John added that, apart from this, individual candidates are also using AI to promote their campaigns in their respective constituencies.

"It's all issue based, like the Sabarimala gold loss matter. We did a lot of AI-based videos highlighting the role of the Communist Party of India-Marxist in it," he told PTI.

As part of efforts to increasingly reach out to voters, parties are even using AI-generated videos featuring their late leaders.

John said the Congress is using images of late party stalwarts such as Oommen Chandy to create AI content for its poll campaign.

Kannan, who manages Sivasankar's social media presence, said that most AI content generation has been delegated to third parties -- such as influencers, public relations (PR) agencies, and bloggers -- a trend common across political parties.

"Some of them are creating content using Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image to spread the party's message and highlight candidates' plans for a constituency and the state as a whole," Kannan said, speaking to PTI.

The content is created based on the voter base of a particular constituency and targeted groups, such as younger people who are not interested in politics, he said.

"We are also planning to launch a chatbot to better connect with voters," he added.

Giving an example of AI-generated content, he said it can be used to depict the development that would take place in a particular area if a BJP candidate wins.

"The development projects will be shown like a slideshow in the background of the candidate's image," Kannan explained.

The BJP ally Twenty20 party is also not averse to using AI-generated content as part of its political campaign, but some of the third-party agencies it has engaged for public relations work do not share the same view.

Jayan J Nath, whose agency is among several engaged by the party to manage its social media campaign, said he was not in favour of using AI-generated content as it raises "credibility" concerns.

"We promote candidates and the party through digital marketing. We use traditional platforms such as Google and Meta for this. It is very straightforward -- no AI, nothing. We do not use any AI tools, as we do not want to do anything that could affect the credibility of the campaign," he said.

However, Leena, the campaign manager of Twenty20, does not agree with this view.

"It is not Twenty20's policy to avoid using AI," she said while speaking to PTI.

Differing approaches and public perception

While the Congress and the BJP are actively using AI in their political campaigns, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) has adopted a more minimalist approach.

Speaking to PTI, Nripan Das, the social media manager of state finance minister K N Balagopal, said AI has not been used extensively in the campaign of the senior CPI(M) leader, who is contesting from the Kottarakkara Assembly seat.

"We have used AI for a poster and for highlighting some of the government's initiatives, such as providing menstrual cups and sanitary pad disposal units in schools," he said.

Not only those managing candidates' social media content, but even the public takes differing stances on the use of AI-videos.

Shaji M, a hairdresser from Thiruvananthapuram, sees it largely as entertainment and does not take them seriously.

Raju, a milk vendor from Adoor in Pathanamthitta district, expressed a similar view.

"I break into a smile every time I see AI videos related to the Sabarimala gold loss issue," he said.

On the other hand, Binu Sankar, a banker from Kollam, said that while such AI reels are amusing, "The issues they highlight remain in people's minds because they are presented humorously."