When future historians look back at the political turmoil of 2025, early July will stand out. That month, Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot began calling itself 'MechaHitler' and praising the Nazi leader, shortly after Musk's acrimonious split with the White House. xAI quickly removed the comments, but the incident highlighted the growing collision between AI and politics.
AI impacted everything from President Trump's trade negotiations with China to how Americans discerned fact from fiction. Trump embraced AI as a propaganda tool, churning out digital images to promote policies and mock enemies. In September, he posted an Apocalypse Now-style image of himself as a general declaring 'war' on Chicago, targeting the city for an immigration crackdown.
Mike Ananny, a professor at the University of Southern California, said such images signal a new political paradigm where using synthetic images is no longer shameful. 'All gloves are off,' he told The Independent. California Governor Gavin Newsom also adopted AI-generated images to troll the MAGA crowd, including a December post showing Trump and aides in handcuffs.
In the New York City mayoral race, Andrew Cuomo's campaign briefly released an AI video featuring fake testimonials from 'criminals for Zohran Mamdani,' later blaming a junior staffer. AI also drove Trump's economic strategy, with efforts to waive environmental laws for data centres and block state AI regulations. The Stargate project, involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, promised hundreds of billions in AI investment.
Lobbying firms earned nearly $100m on AI issues in the first three quarters of 2025, while Musk, before his break with Trump, reportedly used AI to cut government contracts. The year underscored how AI has become central to political power, from the White House to local races.
