The AI debate rages on.
We have two camps that are forming. In the first are the naysayers who look at the money being spent and conclude we are in a bubble. Then there are others who feel AI will radically change society. Some of these people believe it will be tomorrow.
Of course, the future is likely somewhere in the middle.
That said, we are seeing an impact. This also ties into the idea of the death of Hollywood.
Ironic that the focus of this article is on the Los Angeles area and what is taking place there. While Hollywood implodes, its replacement is arising out of the ashes.
In this article I will go through how the democratization of content production is altering politics.
It does not matter which side of the aisle one is on. This is not an endorsement of any sort. What is important is the trend we are seeing for both the political landscape and entertainment at large.
Spencer Pratt made headlines with his bold advertisements during the race for Los Angeles mayor. In fact, the exposure, due to the viral nature of the Internet, expanded outside the voting area.
What this shows is the reach. It should not help Pratt in his quest for office since those outside Los Angeles have nothing to do with this contest. Unfortunately, these days, with politics, who can tell where money (or votes) are coming from.
A recent ad put out really emphasizes how technology can change things.
Give this one a view. It is based upon the Lego movie.
Again, the political view here is not the story. What is important is to note how this was generated by AI. Typically the discussion centers around entertainment but, by entering the political arena, it does highlight how the tentacles are much larger.
What would an ad like this cost 5 years ago?
I obviously do not have the answer. What I can tell you is the price today is a fraction of what it was back then. The deflationary nature of technology is taking over.
Consider how this alters the political landscape. One of the biggest predictors of victory is money. We see absurd numbers spent by campaigns. Tens of billions are spent each cycle on the presidential race in the US. The job pays $400K per year.
There are races where one candidate has a great deal more money than the other. Technology could level things out a bit.
When contestants start to use this, we could see ads generated for pennies on the dollar. This means money becomes less of an issue, at least for this facet of the operation. Social media also can offer another advantage due to the fact that distribution (due to the viral nature) can often be near free.
Ultimately, the advantage of either party, if both are using it, will be negated. Each will be able to generate ads at low cost. This does not eliminate the power of money in politics since we have dozens of other aspects to consider. We are highlighting, however, how technological deflation can take hold.
Another component to this story is the fact that AI ads are being generated by the candidates supporters. These are not from the campaign team itself. This democratizes the process. Of course, as we know from social media, that means anything can be generated, even if it is an outright lie. We can expect opponents to use the technology, perhaps in nefarious ways.
Politics is not something that most focused upon when it comes to the impact of AI. Yet here is an example of where the technology is being incorporated into a 2026 campaign. We will likely see more before this cycle is over and can expect an explosion in 2028.
Stepping back, this does not bode well for Hollywood. If we see a significant share of political ads being done with AI, where does it stop? The answer is nowhere.
This will filer into every aspect of video generation. Anywhere an ad appears will utilize the technology. As we discussed in the past, we can expect this to work its way up the video ladder.
By the next election cycle, there will probably be 30 minute "shows" generate with AI which have the quality of movie studios. Two years goes quickly in the political world but it is a lifetime in AI. Just look at the advancement of LLMs in the past 6 months.
Howard Dean received a lot of attention for his use of the Internet (specifically email lists) during his presidential run during the primaries. Today, this is standard business for all industries. The Internet is a central communication tool.
We can expect the same of AI video generation. By the early 2030s, most video will be of this nature. Human created content will be a small fraction of the overall.
