According to a United Nations (UN) AI adviser, deepfakes created by artificial intelligence (AI) are likely to have a “massive” impact on voters in future elections and not much is yet to be done to stop them. can
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Neil Sahota said his sources warned that the growing use of deepfake ads could be the “biggest threat to democracy.”
“A lot of people — and I think those in the media as well — are calling the 2024 election a ‘deepfake election’ that’s probably going to be affected by a lot of deepfakes,” Sahota said. “There’s not much that can be done right now to prevent any of this.”
While the United Nations and various other organizations and corporations are working quickly to develop software that can detect deepfakes, Sahota notes that common verification tools, such as watermarks, are limited by their current capabilities. It is relatively easy to stop in repetition.
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This illustration taken on May 4, 2023 shows the ChatGPT logo and the words AI artificial intelligence. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
Additionally, the chance of AI-generated content being successfully discovered varies greatly by medium. For example, deepfake videos often leave several markers for identification.
An analyst can watch the body language of the person in the video. They can determine if the audio is properly synchronized with the person’s mouth and monitor changes in light and shadow and potential artifacts in each steel frame. Unfortunately, this analysis takes time and resources in an age where things can go viral overnight.
“If someone releases a very damaging deeply fake video two days before an election, there may not be enough time to counter it and prove it and get people to believe it,” Sahota said. said
Deepfakes have already had an impact on political systems around the world. In April, the Republican National Committee (RNC) created the first fully AI-generated political ad targeting the Biden administration on China and crime. Sahota said the Democratic National Committee (DNC) declined to say whether they had created similar AI content.
AI has also influenced recent elections in Turkey. Sahota said more than 150 deepfake videos were caught and debunked on social media.
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This illustrative photo taken on January 30, 2023 shows a statement by the head of security policy at META, with a fake video (R) of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calling for his troops to surrender in the background. . In Washington DC (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
“People need information to inform voters. If you don’t know who to trust, you have these AI systems that know you like a best friend and give you a special Can send targeted fake ads. What do you do?” he added.
Over the years, various organizations and individuals have been working to teach AI in psychology, behavioral science, and linguistics. These AI systems learn a person’s opinions, hobbies and interests. Sahota said it also knows which words will inspire you, connect with you and convince you.
While many researchers are always looking for big “homerun” deepfakes, such as Volodymyr Zelensky asking Ukrainian soldiers to surrender, bad actors are also “micro-targeting” people to target certain sub-segments of the population. can affect
Hillary Clinton’s recent deepfake showed the former presidential candidate that she likes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and would support him if he were to run for president. Sahota said these videos are manipulating people’s decisions on a small scale that is often overlooked.
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The highly realistic Bruce Willis portrait is actually a deepfake created by a Russian company using artificial neural networks. (Deep Cake via Reuters)
While AI videos are valid concerns, Sahota said the use of psychological AI tools has already been “perfected” in marketing, where people can create a kind of “echo chamber effect.”
If a person subscribes to someone’s newsletter or sees something on their feed, AI algorithms reinforce that over time. This begs the question, is a person choosing to vote for someone because it is their own idea, or has it entered their consciousness?
“It’s like the beginning of the movie,” Sahota said. “Someone actually puts it in your head. And the best way to build buy-in is to think it’s your idea. And unfortunately, that’s what many of these AI tools are being used for.”
Perhaps the most important concern for the United Nations is what happens when someone claims to have been the victim of a deepfake but is trying to destroy a legitimate video, photo or audio recording.
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Reporters watch an AI-generated news anchor called “Fedha,” which was recently debuted by the Kuwait News Service. (Yasser Al-Zayat/AFP via Getty Images)
“Someone says a little something, well, we can get it. But someone who actually said something is trying to spit it out as a deepfake. How do you disprove a negative? Real. There is no way to do it. To do it, do the analysis. And even if you do a real analysis, some people will still be skeptical about the results,” Sahota said.
According to Sahota, the Federal Election Committee (FEC) is deadlocked on what to do about deep faxes because they are unsure whether it is their domain to regulate the machine’s content. With misinformation and misleading claims reaching “epic proportions,” Sahota said a change in mindset may be necessary.
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“This kind of cultural change takes time, and it’s a big change,” he added. “There’s going to be a lot of resistance to that. And unfortunately, ‘Oh, I didn’t actually say that.’ It’s definitely going to happen. We’ve already seen over 100 years of rotation in American politics. So, that’s the biggest challenge.”
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