A steady drumbeat of fear is rising in the media over the potential of cheap AI technology to dupe voters in 2024.
When the GOP rolled out an AI-generated ad last month, various left-leaning media expressed their concern at 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 weighed in, warning that the ability to fake voices and images has become powerful enough to deceive the public.
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.
One AI expert spoken to by the AP, Oren Etzioni, said “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 potential AI dangers listed by the AP: fake audio from candidates confessing to crimes or expressing campaign-killing views, instructions to cast ballots on the wrong date, fake video footage of candidates, and fake claims that a candidate has dropped out of the race.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.