One Nation’s AI video is vile and tired – but the ensloppification of Australian politics doesn’t stop there

The inflammatory clip shows the wild west of online politicking created by unrestricted access to AI – and why watchdogs need more powers to do something about it One Nation’s new AI-generated campaign video is a new low – even for them. The video – reportedly played at the party’s Victorian campaign launch over the weekend – is an AI-generated collection of racist tropes, depicting a man who appears to be African brandishing a machete, an apparently Middle Eastern man with an explosive vest, a South Asian man in a turban talking about “mass migration” and an Indigenous elder talking about people receiving “money … on the basis of need, not identity”.

But the inflammatory clip says more about the wild west of online politicking created by cheap, unrestricted access to AI videos, and why governments need to empower watchdog bodies to do more about it. The video was barely mentioned in most media reporting, which otherwise largely focused on the rousing reception Pauline Hanson received from her supporters, the music that was played over loudspeakers and the Trump-esque pledge…