South Carolina reviews AI’s growing role in campaigns

AI enters campaign operations

Artificial intelligence is becoming part of political campaign strategy, voter outreach, digital advertising and fundraising during the 2026 election cycle. Campaigns and political action committees can also use it to generate images, audio, video, flyers and social media posts.

Gibbs Knotts, a Coastal Carolina University political science professor, said AI now plays a role in tasks including analysis and writing news releases. The tools can reduce the time and expense involved in producing campaign material, potentially giving smaller campaigns access to work that once required consultants, designers or production teams.

The same technology can create political media that makes transparency harder for voters. Danielle Vinson, a Furman University professor of politics and international affairs, said that without state rules, candidates, voters, news organizations and the public are left to judge acceptable uses.

South Carolina’s policy review

South Carolina does not have a broad law governing artificial intelligence in political campaigns. Lawmakers have introduced bills in recent years addressing AI-generated election content and deceptive political media, but those proposals did not advance through the General Assembly.

A newly formed Senate Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence has started a multiyear review of the technology’s effects on the state. Committee Chairman Tom Young, an Aiken Republican, said campaign uses of AI are likely to be among the subjects considered because other states have addressed the issue.

Disclosure is one option

Knotts identified disclosure requirements as one possible approach. Such rules could require campaigns to tell voters when political content was created or altered with AI, rather than prohibiting the technology itself.

The committee has not announced a specific campaign-AI proposal. Its work will determine whether recommendations on political advertising, disclosure or deceptive media move toward legislation. WIS examined the campaign uses and policy questions.