New campaign disclosures reveal how much American political campaigns spend on AI tools

Recent US campaign finance disclosures provide a detailed look at how political campaigns are integrating artificial intelligence. Data from the Federal Election Commission and four states reveals that while candidates are often reticent about their AI usage, spending on vendors like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI is growing rapidly. While general-purpose LLMs are used for office tasks and research, specialized political tools like Daisychain and Campaign Nucleus are seeing significant investment for voter engagement and automated messaging. Despite high media interest in AI-generated deepfakes, direct campaign spending on synthetic audio and video tools remains relatively low. Experts note that these disclosure reports represent only a fraction of total AI adoption, as much of the spending is hidden within payments to third-party media firms and political consultants. As the election cycle nears its conclusion, the true extent of AI's influence on political strategy and voter perception remains a developing story.