Intelligence and politics are two words that often don’t go together. But when you add the adjective “artificial” to further describe intelligence there should be no connection between that and politics. There is no room for artificial intelligence in American elections. But it’s beginning to happen.
In early March 2024, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) published an account of how Trump supporters have used AI in ads depicting Trump surrounded by black voters. A picture is worth a thousand words, and much of the AI produced by Trump supporters are photos of Trump with black voters – none of which are real. One such photo has a man with three arms. Another has people with fingers missing. People do miss fingers in accidents and such, but no one has three arms.
Mark Kaye, a Florida-based conservative radio host with more than a million followers, doesn’t deny that he and his team created some of those ads. As a matter-of-fact, he “told the BBC that it was the individual’s problem if their vote was influenced by AI images.”
Recently, the New York Times reported that Russia is creating “look-alike websites that are fake versions of real news outlets,” not only in the U.S., but in Japan, Israel, and other countries, creating artificial news. American and European intelligence agencies have warned that misinformation on the Russian efforts are “harder to trace and combat than Russia’s previous misinformation campaign.” For example, Russia, China and Iran are being accused by authorities in London that disinformation about Catherine, Princess of Wales, before she came out with news of her cancer, was widely spread throughout England in an “effort to destabilize the country.
Spreading misinformation through phony websites using artificial information is not a new concept, but it is an increasing concern throughout the world. A testing ground for A.I. in election propaganda could have been Argentina, where Russian influence was prominent in campaign material between presidential candidates Sergio Massa and Javier Milei, the eventual winner who was backed by A.I.-generated information.
Closer to home, “Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida shared a video showing the A.I.-generated images of Donald J. Trump hugging Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, who has become and enemy on the American right for his role leading the nation’s pandemic response.”[1]
The Iowa House of Representatives passed House File 2549 a bill that prohibits the use of artificial intelligence in campaign material unless it contains a disclosure that informs the recipient that the material is produced using artificial intelligence. The measure passed by a vote of 93-1. But like any proposed law attempting to regulate political speech, it runs into a wall of constitutional obstacles. It could be those constitutional roadblocks kept it from emerging in the Senate State Government Committee, but I doubt it.
Another problem with the legislation is the provision creating a simple misdemeanor for certain violations. Not exactly a potent deterrent. Further, it seems as though organizations, corporations, and Political Action Committees are rarely charged with misdemeanors – felonies for that matter. You have to remember that “corporations are “persons” under the law. But how does the government enforce a misdemeanor with “confinement for no more than ninety days and a fine of not more than one thousand dollars” against a person who is not an individual?
The use of A.I. is coming to an election near you. You may not readily recognize it. If something looks phishy, it probably is. Look into various sources for similar information in order to form an opinion or decision based upon corroborated fact (minimum two sources).
Do not expect the government – any government – to be a service in guiding your information sources. That is not the responsibility of any government; federal, state, or local. Unfortunately, I have to agree with Mark Kaye above: it is “the individual’s problem if their vote was influenced by AI images.”
But, by all means, exercise your right to vote!
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[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/world/americas/argentina-election-ai-milei-massa.html