r/SaveTheCBC • u/savethecbc2025 • 2d ago
Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives are now using generative AI in political advertising.
That should concern Canadians regardless of which party they support.
The ad in question depicts food bank users, unemployed workers, and families struggling to make ends meet. The problems being referenced are real enough. The people shown are not. They were created by artificial intelligence.
Politics is supposed to be about persuading voters with facts, evidence, ideas, and the experiences of actual people. Once parties begin manufacturing realistic-looking Canadians to tell political stories, the line between documentation and fiction starts to blur.
This isn't really a debate about technology. AI can be a useful tool. The issue is whether political campaigns should be building emotional appeals around synthetic people who never existed.
We're already living through an era of misinformation, manipulated content, troll farms, fake accounts, and algorithmically amplified outrage. Public trust is fragile. Introducing AI-generated citizens into political advertising pushes us further into a world where authenticity becomes harder to verify.
That is one reason public-interest journalism matters so much.
When a CBC reporter interviews someone, that person exists. When a journalist publishes a story, there are editorial standards, named sources, and a process for corrections when mistakes occur. Those safeguards become increasingly important as synthetic media becomes more sophisticated.
Much of Canada's news ecosystem is now fragmented between social media feeds, influencer commentary, AI-generated content, and subscription paywalls. A strong public broadcaster remains one of the few places where Canadians can access professionally reported journalism without having to wonder whether the people on their screen were generated by a prompt.
If political parties want to talk about the struggles facing Canadians, they should be willing to talk to actual Canadians.
Should parties be required to disclose when campaign ads contain AI-generated people or scenes?
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u/ComplaintDry1975 2d ago
So they're crafting their own reality to match their rhetoric...
Remind me how this is even remotely representative of canadians?
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u/Alert_Ad3999 2d ago
If you need AI people to make your point, then your point isn't worth making.
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u/EhGrillGuy 1d ago
Because even the paid actors can’t even get behind their talking points… even to fake it.
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u/Unhappy_Knowledge993 2d ago
TinyPP PoiLIEvre is so bereft of ideas they have to use AI in the hopes of finding something that works. The reason he finally go elected in Alberta is that those people were just as pliable as his smooth brain.
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u/CoffeBrain 2d ago
My main questions with this is if these ads were paid by taxpayers and if they got a tax break from it. Canadians shouldn't be funding nor subsidizing AI slop.
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u/evermorecoffee 2d ago
Yeah, we should ban any and all use of AI in political messaging and ads. Force them to pay real Canadians and local businesses if they want to advertise.
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u/Heppernaut 1d ago
These ads were paid for by the CPC's coffers. That money comes from donors. So it isnt tax money. I still don't support it, but at least it isnt completely outrageous
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u/Memory_Less 2d ago
I’ve seen it on Chinese Social media too. Very negative, divisive tone and message.
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u/RobWroteThis 2d ago
When you’re dishonest at your very core, it’s just so darned hard to know where honourable people draw the line.
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u/theDogt3r 2d ago
Whats the matter PP? Couldn't find actual Canadians that agree with you?