WASHINGTON — Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap and powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, videos and audio that were realistic enough to deceive voters and perhaps influence an election
The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing and expensive to produce, especially when other types of disinformation were so cheap and easy to spread on social media. The threat posed by AI and so-called deepfakes always seemed a year or two away.
Not more.
Sophisticated generative AI tools can now create cloned human voices and hyper-realistic images, videos and audio in seconds, at minimal cost. When linked to powerful social media algorithms, this fake, digitally created content can spread far and fast and target very specific audiences, potentially taking dirty campaign tricks to a new level.
The implications for campaigns and the 2024 election are as great as they are troubling: Not only can generative AI rapidly produce targeted campaign emails, texts or videos, but it can also be used to deceive voters, impersonate candidates and undermine elections at a scale and speed never seen before.
“We’re not ready for this,” warned AJ Nash, vice president of intelligence at cybersecurity firm ZeroFox. “For me, the big leap forward is the audio and video capabilities that have emerged. When you can do that at scale and distribute it across social platforms, well, it’s going to have a big impact.”
AI experts can quickly resolve a number of alarming scenarios in which generative AI is used to create synthetic media aimed at confusing voters, slandering a candidate, or even inciting violence.
Here are some: Automated robocall messages, in a candidate’s voice, telling voters to cast ballots on the wrong date; audio recordings of a candidate allegedly confessing to a crime or expressing racist views; video footage showing someone giving a speech or interview they never gave. Fake images designed to look like local news, falsely claiming a candidate dropped out of the race.
“What if Elon Musk calls you personally and tells you to vote for a certain candidate?” said Oren Etzioni, founding CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, who stepped down last year to start the nonprofit AI2. “A lot of people would listen. But it’s not him.”
Former President Donald Trump, who is running in 2024, has been sharing AI-generated content with his followers on social media. A doctored video of CNN host Anderson Cooper that Trump shared on his Truth Social platform Friday, which distorted Cooper’s reaction to last week’s CNN town hall with Trump, was created using a cloning tool of AI voice.
A dystopian campaign ad released last month by the Republican National Committee offers another glimpse into this digitally manipulated future. The online ad, which came after President Joe Biden announced his re-election campaign, begins with a strange, slightly distorted image of Biden and the text “What if the weakest president we’ve ever had was re-elected? “
Below, a series of AI-generated images: Taiwan under attack; boarded up storefronts in the United States as the economy collapses; soldiers and armored military vehicles patrol the local streets while tattooed criminals and waves of immigrants create panic.
“An AI-generated look at the country’s possible future if Joe Biden is re-elected in 2024,” reads the description of the RNC ad.
The RNC acknowledged its use of AI, but others, including nefarious political campaigns and foreign adversaries, will not, said Petko Stoyanov, global chief technology officer at Forcepoint, an Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity firm. Stoyanov predicted that groups seeking to interfere with American democracy will use AI and synthetic media as a way to erode trust.
“What happens if an international entity, a cybercriminal or a nation state, impersonates someone. What is the impact? Do we have any recourse?” Stoyanov said. “We’re going to see a lot more misinformation from international sources.”
AI-generated political disinformation has already gone viral online ahead of the 2024 election, from a doctored video of Biden appearing to give a speech attacking transgender people to AI-generated images of children allegedly learning Satanism in libraries.
AI images that appeared to show Trump’s photo also fooled some social media users, although the former president did not take one when he was booked and tried in a Manhattan criminal court for falsifying business records . Other AI-generated footage showed Trump resisting arrest, though its creator quickly acknowledged its origin.
Legislation that would require candidates to label campaign ads created with AI has been introduced in the House by Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., who has also sponsored legislation that would require anyone creating synthetic images to add a water that indicates the fact.
Some states have offered their own proposals to address concerns about deep counterfeiting.
Clarke said his biggest fear is that generative artificial intelligence could be used before the 2024 election to create a video or audio that incites violence and turns Americans against each other .
“It’s important that we keep up with technology,” Clarke told The Associated Press. “We need to put up some guardrails. People can be fooled and it only takes a split second. People are busy with their lives and don’t have time to check every piece of information. If AI is used as a weapon, in a political season, it could be extremely disruptive.”
Earlier this month, a trade association for political consultants in Washington condemned the use of deep fakes in political advertising, calling them “a hoax” with “no place in legitimate and ethical campaigns.”
Other forms of artificial intelligence have been a feature of political campaigns for years, using data and algorithms to automate tasks like targeting voters on social media or locating donors. Campaign strategists and tech entrepreneurs hope that the latest innovations will also offer some positives in 2024.
Mike Nellis, CEO of progressive digital agency Authentic, said he uses ChatGPT “every day” and encourages his staff to use it as well, as long as any content written with the tool is reviewed by human eyes afterwards.
Nellis’ most recent project, in collaboration with Higher Ground Labs, is an AI tool called Quiller. You will write, send and evaluate the effectiveness of fundraising emails, all typically tedious tasks in campaigns.
“The idea is that every Democratic strategist, every Democratic candidate will have a co-pilot in their pocket,” he said.
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Swenson reported from New York.
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