American Voters
Media Anxiety Shoots Up Over AI Being Used to Manipulate 2024 Election
In the media, anxiety rises over the potential for inexpensive AI technology to deceive voters in the 2024 election.
When the Republicans released an AI-generated commercial last month, numerous left-wing media sources raised alarm about the technology's potential (though the same outlets heaped attention on leftist pranksters who used AI to depict Republican politicians in drag).
The Associated Press has now stepped in, saying that the capacity to spoof voices and images has advanced to the point that it can confuse the public.
The AP report reads in part:
“Sophisticated generative AI tools can now create cloned human voices and hyper-realistic images, videos and audio in seconds, at minimal cost. When strapped to powerful social media algorithms, this fake and digitally created content can spread far and fast and target highly specific audiences, potentially taking campaign dirty tricks to a new low.
The implications for the 2024 campaigns and elections are as large as they are troubling: Generative AI can not only rapidly produce targeted campaign emails, texts, or videos, it also could be used to mislead voters, impersonate candidates and undermine elections on a scale and at a speed not yet seen.”
AI expert Oren Etzioni told the AP, “what if Elon Musk personally calls you and tells you to vote for a certain candidate? A lot of people would listen. But it’s not him.”
Other possible AI concerns highlighted by the AP include: phony audio of candidates confessing to crimes or expressing campaign-killing ideas, instructions to cast votes on the incorrect day, fake video footage of candidates, and false assertions that a candidate has pulled out of the race.
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