Opinion: Why is AI Art So Right-Wing?

Written By Elliot Heath

Following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 and the world’s ensuing search for a new leader of the Catholic Church, President Trump posted a rather peculiar response to Truth Social: an AI-generated portrait of himself in papal robes, sat on a golden throne. 

The post, which drew heavy criticism from Catholic organizations, was just one in a sea of bizarre, unnervingly glossy images and videos that have flooded the internet in recent years. Since the birth of ChatGPT in 2022, artificial intelligence technology has revolutionized, granting humans the ability to generate written, audial and visual material at a rate never before seen. 

But among the near-limitless possibilities of generative AI, from creating new models of K-12 teaching to aiding crucial research in the healthcare sciences, it is often AI “art” — including lavish depictions of Trump as the pope — that end up going viral.

Trump is far from the only conservative politician to use AI imagery in social media posts. Official U.S. government accounts on X frequently post AI-generated illustrations to advertise whatever policy they are putting forth. A recent post from the Department of Homeland Security, for example, depicts alligators with Immigration and Customs Enforcement caps standing near barbed wire fences, hinting at a newly-built immigrant detention facility in Florida nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.” The official White House account similarly celebrated the March arrest of an undocumented immigrant allegedly involved in drug trafficking by posting a Studio Ghibli-style illustration of a man in a military uniform putting handcuffs on a Latina woman who was in tears. 

Beyond the executive branch, AI art dominates conservative social media circles, especially on sites like X and Instagram. Right-wing pundits, congresspeople and advocacy groups alike frequently post memes, comic strips and political cartoons to hammer home their messaging, all with the ease of typing in a simple prompt to an online software. While many posts are innocuous, others often contain explicit racism and xenophobia, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent X post showing a woman in a burqa replacing the Statue of Liberty in response to Muslim candidate Zohran Mamdani’s recent New York City mayoral primary win. Islamophobia and anti-immigrant rhetoric have become recurring themes in AI posts by far-right groups across Europe as well. 

These types of posts seem to be intentionally provocative. Striking visuals are key to capturing attention, whether that be through energizing supporters or enraging critics of a particular messaging. A graphic of a military officer arresting a crying woman is not just meant to show support for a new policy — it is saying that the government is entirely unapologetic about its actions, no matter how much harm is caused in their wake. And while brazen political ads have been commonplace for decades, the difference is that now, humanity has access to tools that can produce them almost instantly. 

Indeed, propaganda has never been so effortless. 

But the question remains: Why is AI art so much more prevalent in right-wing circles than in left-wing ones? With the technology being so new, few studies have yet been conducted on AI users en masse. The differences across ideological lines, though, are already becoming clear. 

It might help starting with why many on the left are so averse to AI-generated art. One of the most common criticisms is that the practice steals from real artists, conjuring images based on existing artwork that is available online. A single image that could have taken a human being hours or even days to complete could have key resemblances to what an AI tool could create in seconds, with no compensation or credit to the original artist whatsoever. 

Even more alarmingly, generative AI requires gargantuan amounts of energy to run. As the technology has gained popularity, the resulting demands for electricity and water use have grown exponentially, far exceeding the requirements to run simple internet searches. The number of data centers worldwide has also seen a steep increase in the past few years to account for more AI users, adding significant hurdles to an already strenuous global effort to reduce the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions.

These issues can understandably repel a lot of left-leaning folk who place value in artists’ work and the climate conservation movement. American conservatives, on the other hand, are not exactly known for their admiration for the arts, and the Republican party continues to fiercely oppose any and all environmental legislation. It makes sense that those on the right — whether it be policymakers, official government accounts, or regular people — are more dismissive of the threats AI art poses. 

Aside from the ethically dubious methods behind AI-generated imagery, looking at its potential uses helps explain a lot of right-wing enthusiasm around the new tech. The Trump-led conservative movement has played a crucial role in the spread of misinformation in the past decade, which has succeeded in part due to social media’s ability to circulate unfiltered claims at an inconceivably fast pace. With so much material overloading the senses at all times, it can be hard to distinguish between what is real and what is not. AI art tools, which can falsify infographics, visual accounts, or even news events themselves, fit seamlessly into this environment of constant information overload. 

Coupled with users’ tendencies to produce AI images fueling support for bigoted causes and unconstitutional policy initiatives, the future implications for the technology are dire. If a large language model can generate both fake news and propaganda cartoons in response to that news, it could win control over a large sum of the public — and push our era of polarization and media distrust to a breaking point. 

We are still, however, a little ways away from that reality. While the challenges posed by right-wing AI art are substantial, they are also not anything new; experts have proposed a number of methods to combat online disinformation in the past, including fact-checking services and counter-messaging campaigns, and much of those strategies still apply to today’s circumstances. Even with the increased speed with which AI posts can be produced, their ability to deceive the public is limited by fact-based sources and news outlets that share the social media space. Moreover, AI can also be harnessed to combat and contextualize misinformation, automatically flagging posts as soon as they come out. 

As for the provocative political memes and images that flood the web in droves on the daily, it may take some pretty hefty legislation to regulate. Given the current presidential administration’s affinity for the trend, that does not seem to be on the table for the time being. What we can do, however, is consider the impact of our reactions. If posting crude AI images is intended to provoke responses, choosing not to engage may help reduce the spread and influence of such content. These types of posts thrive on controversy and upset, but their success is wholly contingent on the attention they receive. 

The key is to focus on addressing the message hidden behind the pixels, rather than getting swept into the visualized delusions of chronically online people seeking only to spur chaos. Those posts are cruel and wasteful, yes, but more importantly they can often end up distracting you from real, harmful policies going into effect all around us.

The vast majority of the country’s upheaval is happening offline. It is happening on the street, in courts, schools, places of worship, government buildings, hospitals, prisons, detention centers and everywhere else. And making a tangible difference requires an ability to cut through the internet slop and fight for what really matters.

In a space engulfed by fakes and falsehoods, true victory comes with keeping things real.