{"id":24857,"date":"2024-03-15T03:21:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T08:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=24857"},"modified":"2024-03-15T03:21:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T08:21:07","slug":"election-disinformation-takes-a-big-leap-with-ai-being-used-to-deceive-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=24857","title":{"rendered":"Election disinformation takes a big leap with AI being used to deceive worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election disinformation<\/u><\/a> worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake \u2013 but convincing \u2013 content aimed at fooling voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago, when creating phony photos, videos or audio clips required teams of people<\/u><\/a> with time, technical skill and money. Now, using free and low-cost generative artificial intelligence services from companies like Google and OpenAI, anyone can create high-quality \u201cdeepfakes\u201d with just a simple text prompt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts warn AI and deepfakes will likely be worse in the coming elections.<\/strong>
Here\u2019s how governments and organizations are responding to the threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., the FCC outlawed AI-generated robocalls<\/u><\/a> aimed to discourage voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major tech companies have signed an accord<\/u><\/a> to prevent AI from being used to disrupt democratic elections worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a Davos report found AI-powered misinformation is the world\u2019s biggest short-term threat<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI-powered misinformation and disinformation is emerging as a risk as people in a slew of countries head to the polls. Read more on the 25 elections in 2024 that could change the world<\/u><\/a>, and take a look at more of the AP\u2019s global elections coverage.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wave of AI deepfakes tied to elections in Europe and Asia has coursed through social media for months, serving as a warning for more than 50 countries heading to the polls<\/u><\/a> this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to look far to see some people … being clearly confused as to whether something is real or not,\u201d said Henry Ajder, a leading expert in generative AI based in Cambridge, England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is no longer whether AI deepfakes could affect elections, but how influential they will be, said Ajder, who runs a consulting firm called Latent Space Advisory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the U.S. presidential race heats up, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently warned about the growing threat<\/u><\/a>, saying generative AI makes it easy for \u201cforeign adversaries to engage in malign influence.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With AI deepfakes, a candidate\u2019s image<\/u><\/a> can be smeared, or softened. Voters can be steered toward or away from candidates \u2014 or even to avoid the polls altogether. But perhaps the greatest threat to democracy, experts say, is that a surge of AI deepfakes could erode the public\u2019s trust in what they see and hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Some recent examples of AI deepfakes include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 A video of Moldova\u2019s pro-Western president throwing her support behind a political party friendly to Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Audio clips of Slovakia\u2019s liberal party leader discussing vote rigging and raising the price of beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 A video of an opposition lawmaker in Bangladesh \u2014 a conservative Muslim majority nation \u2014 wearing a bikini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The novelty and sophistication of the technology makes it hard to track who is behind AI deepfakes. Experts say governments and companies are not yet capable of stopping the deluge, nor are they moving fast enough to solve the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the technology improves, \u201cdefinitive answers about a lot of the fake content are going to be hard to come by,\u201d Ajder said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some AI deepfakes aim to sow doubt about candidates\u2019 allegiances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Moldova, an Eastern European country bordering Ukraine, pro-Western President Maia Sandu has been a frequent target. One AI deepfake that circulated shortly before local elections depicted her endorsing a Russian-friendly party and announcing plans to resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Officials in Moldova believe the Russian government is behind the activity. With presidential elections this year, the deepfakes aim \u201cto erode trust in our electoral process, candidates and institutions \u2014 but also to erode trust between people,\u201d said Olga Rosca, an adviser to Sandu. The Russian government declined to comment for this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has also been accused of weaponizing generative AI for political purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own, an AI deepfake gained attention earlier this year by stirring concerns about U.S. interference in local politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fake clip circulating on TikTok showed U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, promising stronger U.S. military support for Taiwan if the incumbent party\u2019s candidates were elected in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Wittman blamed the Chinese Communist Party for trying to meddle in Taiwanese politics, saying it uses TikTok \u2014 a Chinese-owned company \u2014 to spread \u201cpropaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, said his government doesn\u2019t comment on fake videos and that it opposes interference in other countries\u2019 internal affairs. The Taiwan election, he stressed, \u201cis a local affair of China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio-only deepfakes are especially hard to verify because, unlike photos and videos, they lack telltale signs of manipulated content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Slovakia, another country overshadowed by Russian influence, audio clips resembling the voice of the liberal party chief were shared widely on social media just days before parliamentary elections. The clips purportedly captured him talking about hiking beer prices and rigging the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s understandable that voters might fall for the deception, Ajder said, because humans are \u201cmuch more used to judging with our eyes than with our ears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the U.S., robocalls impersonating U.S. President Joe Biden urged voters in New Hampshire to abstain from voting in January\u2019s primary election. The calls were later traced to a political consultant<\/u><\/a> who said he was trying to publicize the dangers of AI deepfakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>In poorer countries, where media literacy lags, even low-quality AI fakes can be effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such was the case last year in Bangladesh, where opposition lawmaker Rumeen Farhana \u2014 a vocal critic of the ruling party \u2014 was falsely depicted wearing a bikini. The viral video sparked outrage in the conservative, majority-Muslim nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey trust whatever they see on Facebook,\u201d Farhana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Experts are particularly concerned about upcoming elections in India, the world\u2019s largest democracy and where social media platforms are breeding grounds for disinformation<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some political campaigns are using generative AI to bolster their candidate\u2019s image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Indonesia, the team that ran the presidential campaign of Prabowo Subianto<\/u><\/a> deployed a simple mobile app to build a deeper connection with supporters across the vast island nation. The app enabled voters to upload photos and make AI-generated images of themselves with Subianto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the types of AI deepfakes multiply, authorities around the world are scrambling to come up with guardrails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>The European Union already requires social media platforms to cut the risk of spreading disinformation or \u201celection manipulation.\u201d It will mandate special labeling of AI deepfakes<\/u><\/a> starting next year, too late for the EU\u2019s parliamentary elections in June. Still, the rest of the world is a lot further behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\u2019s biggest tech companies recently \u2014 and voluntarily \u2014 signed a pact to prevent AI tools from disrupting elections. For example, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook has said it will start labeling<\/u><\/a> deepfakes that appear on its platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But deepfakes are harder to rein in on apps like the Telegram chat service, which did not sign the voluntary pact and uses encrypted chats that can be difficult to monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some experts worry that efforts to rein in AI deepfakes could have unintended consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Well-meaning governments or companies might trample on the sometimes \u201cvery thin\u201d line between political commentary and an \u201cillegitimate attempt to smear a candidate,\u201d said Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major generative AI services have rules to limit political disinformation. But experts say it remains too easy to outwit the platforms\u2019 restrictions or use alternative services that don\u2019t have the same safeguards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even without bad intentions, the rising use of AI is problematic. Many popular AI-powered chatbots are still spitting out false and misleading information<\/u><\/a> that threatens to disenfranchise voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And software isn\u2019t the only threat. Candidates could try to deceive voters by claiming that real events portraying them in an unfavorable light were manufactured by AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA world in which everything is suspect \u2014 and so everyone gets to choose what they believe \u2014 is also a world that\u2019s really challenging for a flourishing democracy,\u201d said Lisa Reppell, a researcher at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Arlington, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election disinformation worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake \u2013 but convincing \u2013 content aimed at fooling voters. It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago, when creating phony photos, videos or audio clips required teams of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5783],"tags":[5224,1613,3602,21056],"class_list":["post-24857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-ai","tag-election","tag-fake","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24859,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24857\/revisions\/24859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}