Synthetic Politics: Prevalence, Spreaders, and Emotional Reception of AI-Generated Political Images on X

TL;DR

This study analyzes the prevalence, key spreaders, and emotional impact of AI-generated political images on Twitter during the 2024 U.S. election, revealing significant dissemination by a small user group and their influence on discourse.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale characterization of AI-generated political images' spread, identifying key actors and their engagement patterns on social media.

Findings

12% of shared images are AI-generated

10% of users account for 80% of AI image sharing

Superspreaders are more likely to be Premium, right-leaning, and automated

Abstract

Despite widespread concerns about the risks of AI-generated content (AIGC) to the integrity of social media discourse, little is known about its scale and scope, the actors responsible for its dissemination online, and the user responses it elicits. In this work, we measure and characterize the prevalence, spreaders, and emotional reception of AI-generated political images. Analyzing a large-scale dataset from Twitter/X related to the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, we find that approximately 12% of shared images are detected as AI-generated, and around 10% of users are responsible for sharing 80% of AI-generated images. AIGC superspreaders--defined as the users who not only share a high volume of AI-generated images but also receive substantial engagement through retweets--are more likely to be X Premium subscribers, have a right-leaning orientation, and exhibit automated behavior. Their profiles contain a higher proportion of AI-generated images than non-superspreaders, and some engage in extreme levels of AIGC sharing. Moreover, superspreaders' AI image tweets elicit more positive and less toxic responses than their non-AI image tweets. This study serves as one of the first steps toward understanding the role generative AI plays in shaping online socio-political environments and offers implications for platform governance.