I’ve been amazed while I scroll these past few months how much AI has become a political tool.
We were warned that AI would be used to make deep fake to create online storms. Theres been some of this but the tools are being used far more as AI cartoons.
So what am I talking about?
I’m talking about the slew of AI art I’m seeing in some – not all – Facebook groups.
In the run-up to the General Election there was plenty and more around the far right riots in England and Northern Ireland.
What do they look like?
Well, there’s this one which shows a patriotic British Lion with a red white and blue mane chasing down their enemy to publicise a far right march in London.
Or this AI image of a British hourglass with the sands of time slipping and the question ’How long do we have left before its gone.’
It’s a far right trope that the Britain we know is disappearing.
It’s clever because its a dog whistle that stays the right side of the law.
But while they are noticeably far right in character the style is open to parody from more left wing campaigners.
In the riots in England in summer 2024 these two AI images collided.
Firstly, the Aryan-looking child appealing for Britain’s lion to awaken. Then the parody with the drunk lion sleeping off a hangover surrounded by a traffic cone and beer bottles the results of a drunken night out.
“Daddy, the police are at the door,” Aryan child asks “What did you do?”
Or this one.
The message is clear, that the far right protestors are drunk, patriotic and misguided. The symbolic bulldog we’ve seen before. Both the left and right are using established symbols to male a point.
The origins of these AI pieces goes back to before American Independence.
The long history of the political cartoon
In the late 18th century, a single image in a pamphlet or newspaper became a powerful tool.
Print technology allowed the line drawing to be replicated in the printing press. The political cartoon became a common feature.
By the mid-19th century magazines like Punch held power to account with cartoons which mocked, argued and teased on issues of the day.
Here, the British Lion roaring at the Indian Bengal tiger from 1857. This was the year of the Indian Mutiny or India’s First War of Independence depending on your national standpoint.
Of the 40,000 British civilians in India, 6,000 were murdered in the incident which prompted outrage in the British Isles.
Pic credit: Creative Commons licence.
In the image, Britain is represented by the lion defending the naked woman and child on the floor from the savage Indian.
Why is AI art effective messaging?
We know this AI art is not real. But these images are a snippet that makes a point in the time it takes to scroll. It can be read, understood, downloaded and reposted in a way that a Peanuts cartoon strip or a video clip can never be.
The speed with which it can make a point and then be shared makes it hugely powerful.