A chilling prospect

In the heated discussion over AI replacing artistic human talent, there is a less glamorous angle that is often overlooked.

Not "How Much" but "How Many".

The "How Much" question: to what degree can AI mimic or even surpass the output of a creative person?

The "How Many" question: how many more people can AI reach than a team of skilled marketers?

This is no longer a business-only question. It is a political one.

Humans can be swayed with relative ease. Propaganda does not have to be polished to be effective. It just needs to be everywhere all at once.

Sounds like a job for AI.

AI is the perfect tool for "tweaking" the democratic processes, where "how many?" is the key question. Right now, we are already using AI to create collateral for strategies of deception – the doctored pictures, the fake videos. But humans still decide what to create, where to deploy it and – most importantly - when to stop.

But what if the prompt becomes "win the election for us"?

And what happens when AI says: "Got it. Leave it to me."?

A single fake image, video or post can be exposed. But a full campaign of millions of individually plausible messages across platforms and media? That does not leave an easily recognizable footprint.

We may never see it coming.