Campaign Finance Filings Expose What Politicians Spend on AI

New campaign finance disclosure data reveals which US political campaigns are buying AI tools and how much they pay for them — even as the candidates themselves stay silent on how they use the technology.

The spending records, compiled from disclosures filed by candidates, parties, and committees, show that AI is fast becoming an essential tool of American politics. The data is publicly viewable and offers the clearest picture yet of the money flowing from campaign coffers to AI vendors.

The disclosure comes at a moment of acute political sensitivity around AI in elections. A September 2025 Pew Research Center survey of Americans found that more than 70% would think less of a candidate if they learned AI had helped write a speech. That reputational risk helps explain why campaigns are spending on the technology while saying little about it publicly.

The authors of the book Rewiring Democracy, published by MIT Press, have been tracking this gap between quiet adoption and public silence since they began their research into how AI is starting to influence American politics. The new spending data extends that work from anecdote to ledger.

The pattern matters beyond campaign trivia. If AI tools are becoming standard political infrastructure while remaining politically toxic to acknowledge, voters lose the ability to judge how much of what they see — speeches, ads, outreach — is machine-assisted. Disclosure rules written before generative AI did not anticipate line items for it, which is why researchers had to assemble the picture from scattered filings.

The findings also sharpen the stakes for regulators and platforms heading into future election cycles. Campaigns will keep adopting tools that make persuasion cheaper and faster; the question the Rewiring Democracy authors raise is whether transparency mechanisms can keep pace. The new disclosure data suggests that the money trail, at least, is already there for anyone willing to follow it.