“It just dilutes the information environment."
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming political elections.
A prime example is the recently concluded elections in India where Narendra Modi claimed victory despite failing to reach a majority.
In what has been called India’s first “artificial intelligence election”, significant campaign funds were spent hiring artists like Nayagam, chief executive of the Chennai-based start-up Muonium AI, to deploy deepfakes promoting or discrediting candidates that quickly spread across social media.
These videos use AI to generate believable but false depictions of real people doing just about anything creators want.
According to experts, what unfolded in India is just a preview of the chaos that could upend electoral processes in 2024 and beyond.
I am sure Modi ji won’t jail me bcs of this deepfake video.
????? #NarendraModi pic.twitter.com/TjIeb4n8qL— Swayam Tiwari (@SwayamTewari) May 6, 2024
While deepfakes are not new, AI advances mean they can now be produced at an unprecedented scale, with higher quality and accessibility.
Josh Lawson, director of AI and democracy at Aspen Digital, says:
“What you’re seeing now is the use of AI tools to be able to take on hundreds of different issues and create lots of different messages around those pieces of conflict at scale.
“It just dilutes the information environment.”
Nayagam is mainly known for his AI work for TV ads.
When political parties asked him for help in their campaigning, he was open to it to an extent.
He said: “Anything which is unethical, we want to avoid it. I don’t want to do what is very controversial.”
Nayagam said that includes requests to alter something said in Parliament and to create fake telephone conversations.
He also tries to deal with campaign managers rather than politicians directly, and even then he chooses to work with only a few.
Nayagam’s worries stem from a wave of arrests over deepfakes of politicians such as Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah.
During the election, a video of Shah giving a speech was altered to falsely depict him promoting policy proposals that are unpopular with India’s minority groups.
Though Modi had reshared the deepfake of himself dancing, calling it “truly a delight”, he said the video of Shah was part of a “conspiracy to create tension in society”.
According to Nayagam, AI tasks that used to take days will get faster.
He said:
“We will go into minutes and seconds in the future.”
Lawson said AI could blur the reality of global elections:
“So instead of voting based on facts and verifying what I understand, I am going to vote based on my vibes and intuition.”
Meanwhile, concerned US lawmakers have taken steps to guard the democratic process against AI, with at least 11 states banning election interference through the use of deepfakes.
Lawmakers in California are considering several AI-related bills, including one that would ban “materially deceptive” deepfakes related to elections in the 120 days before polling.
The lawmakers said they were worried about AI-generated robocalls New Hampshire Democrats received in January 2024 in which a voice mimicking President Joe Biden’s encouraged them not to vote in the state’s primary.
Bipartisan legislation banning the use of AI to falsely depict federal candidates has stalled in both the House and Senate and is unlikely to pass before the November election.
Raman Jit Singh Chima, the Asia-Pacific policy director at Access Now, said stringent regulations are needed to tackle AI-powered disinformation during elections.
According to him, the Big Tech platforms where the content is ultimately being shared also have a responsibility in moderating it.
He added: “You need proactive disclosure and regulatory measures on political candidates and parties.”
While it is unclear to what extent AI affected voter perception or influenced results in India, the US and other countries can draw lessons that could be crucial in protecting the integrity of their own elections.
Gathering data over the next few months on how the technology ultimately impacted the Indian election could give that insight.
Lawson added: “We need to do that right now.”
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