America Is About to See What Happens When Voters Turn to AI

The upcoming midterms could be even more confusing due to the rise of AI, according to a recent report. An example was provided where several people thought they were donating to James Talarico, a Texas Democrat, but unknowingly gave their money to another candidate. The AI-generated answer from Google led to the funds being sent to John Hickenlooper's reelection campaign instead.

This mix-up occurred because the AI tool didn't read the fine print, and Google highlighted the misleading donation page in its search results. Hickenlooper's campaign spokesperson stated that the Colorado Democrat did not intentionally siphon the donations; instead, an outside group created the fundraiser without his knowledge.

The 2026 midterms will be the first federal election where tens of millions of voters may get political information from generative-AI tools, with 4 percent of respondents consulting a chatbot such as ChatGPT in the previous month and nearly 40 percent getting such information from Google's AI-search summaries. While AI has the potential to debunk conspiracy theories, it also brings new complications to an internet filled with political falsehoods and distortions.

Forum AI found that about 40 percent of chatbots' answers to election-related questions contained at least one factual inaccuracy, and one in three responses cited unreliable sources. Google's Gemini even cited a Chinese state-run news outlet in its response about America's global power. AI tools are becoming all-purpose assistants that answer election questions confidently and incorrectly.