This election cycle will be the first exposed to generative artificial intelligence—the technology behind popular apps like ChatGPT that enables even non-experts to create fake, but realistic-looking text, video, and audio perfectly suited for political manipulation. At the same khbrknews, a number of the major social-media companies have retreated from some of their prior commitments to promote “election integrity.” The November election is also the first that will register the impact of the enormous popularity of TikTok, which uses a recommendation algorithm that some experts believe is particularly suited to spreading misinformation.
Let’s start with the rise of generative AI, which allows virtually anyone to produce persuasive text, imagery, or sound based on relatively simple natural-language prompts. In January, Facebook circulated a fake AI-generated image of Donald Trump sitting next to Jeffrey Epstein on the disgraced financier and sex offender’s private jet. In February, a Democratic consultant working for a long-shot rival admitted that he commissioned an AI-generated robocall impersonating President Joe Biden that sought to discourage thousands of voters from participating in New Hampshire’s primary. The state’s attorney general has opened a criminal investigation.
The U.S. is not alone on this score. Last September, an audio clip posted on Facebook just two days before Slovakia’s national election for prime minister appeared to capture the candidate of the pro-NATO, pro-Ukraine Progressive Slovakia Party discussing how to rig the results. The AI-crafted fake audio post went viral during a pre-election media moratorium, limiting the degree to which it could be debunked, and the candidate lost to a pro-Russia rival.
Analysts are struggling to keep up with the possibilities. A study published in February in the academic journal PNAS Nexus finds that any political ad maker armed with generative AI tools has the capacity to build “a…
