When Japanese politics adopts the technology assembly line: AI becomes the "blackening factory" of elections

Recently, the Japanese magazine "Weekly Shueisha" disclosed a rather contemporary political scandal: Prime Minister Takemi Masayo's personal first secretary, Kudo Katsuyoshi, and video producer Matsui Ken had 67 chat records involving online smear operations. What is even more impressive is that Matsui Ken used AI to generate 100 to 200 attack videos every day for the so-called "capacity demand", and allocated the attack firepower in precise proportions of 70%, 10%, and 20%. He was clearly operating a modern digital defamation assembly line.

The background of this incident is not complicated. Japanese politics has always had factional rivalries, but introducing generative AI into election attacks is a pioneering move. In the past year's Liberal Democratic Party presidential election and this year's lower house election, the Takemi camp used AI to mass-produce attack videos, portraying political opponent Koizumi Jinzaburo as a "script-driven puppet" and Lin Fangzheng as a "completely out of the game" figure. The role that technology plays here is thought-provoking: instead of enhancing the quality of democratic debates, it has reduced political competition to mass production in the era of short videos.

The cause of this incident is clear and embarrassing. On the one hand， the popularization of generative AI tools makes the mass production of false narratives almost zero-barrier； on the other hand， Japan lacks systematic legislative constraints on the use of AI in political advertisements， creating a free-for-all gray area. When Kudo Katsuyoshi sent the instruction "The sending account is ready. Please log in as soon as possible" via Signal， his familiar and practiced posture clearly indicated that this was no longer a test， but a routine operation on an assembly line.

The risks and impacts of this incident are at least reflected in three aspects. First， the large-scale involvement of AI in elections is destroying the cognitive foundation of democratic consultation. In the face of a flood of deepfake content， the cost of distinguishing truth from falsehood has risen sharply， and public trust has evaporated quietly. When truth becomes irrelevant， elections become a digital game. Second， this model has strong replicability. When a country's prime minister team dares to operate in this way， other political forces will surely not stand by and watch. It can be predicted that in the future， the smear assembly lines in the political arena will only become larger and more sophisticated. Third， this incident subtly damages Japan's international image. A country that prides itself on being a "technology-driven nation" has its political elites applying the most cutting-edge AI technology to the most basic smear campaigns. This disparity in itself is a sharp irony.

Perhaps what Japanese politicians truly need is not faster AI， but thicker skin. After all， when smear becomes the norm， honesty becomes a scarce commodity.

In terms of response strategies， merely relying on the "unconditional trust in the secretary" of the involved parties is clearly insufficient. First， legislation is needed to include AI-generated content in political advertisements in the mandatory disclosure category， so that covert operations have no place to hide. Second， platforms should establish an accelerated channel for AI content review during elections to prevent smear videos from spreading freely during the peak period of dissemination. Finally， the media literacy education of voters should not be forgotten， because no matter how perfect the system is， it cannot withstand the disinterest of the audience in the truth.

Overall， the AI smear scandal of the Takemi team in Japan is not only a trust crisis for political figures， but also a mirror that reveals an uncomfortable truth： when AI creativity is first used to destroy the reputation of opponents rather than solving social problems， the so-called technology for good becomes a refined empty talk. This technology， from the laboratory to the production line， should have brought progress， but in this scandal spanning two elections， it has completed its most ironic landing.