Political chicanery with lies and fake news about opposition candidates have been part of the democratic process as long as there have been democracies. You can bet that in ancient Greece and Rome during their democratic periods, candidates and their supporters spread false stories about their opponents to tarnish them in the eyes of the voters. That’s always been considered normal and expected when elections occur. Candidates try to elevate their own status and denigrate the status of their opponents. However, with the availability and growth of social media in the 21st century, the ability to spread falsehoods and fake stories about a candidate’s opponents and to fabricate positive stories about one’s self has expanded a thousand-fold or more. And with the advent of AI, it’s even worse.
With AI, images of candidates can be created and manipulated to have them saying things that they never said or doing things that they never did. Obviously, opposition candidates could be depicted in various negative and malign acts and making comments about constituents that were degrading and hateful. Each candidate’s tech team could also show the opposition candidate involved in corrupt acts or have other figures criticizing the opposition candidate for corruption. Statistics could also be fabricated showing a candidate’s proposals in a negative light and harming rather than helping his or her constituents. These falsehoods could be broadcast repeatedly over social media by different figures providing them with more authenticity. Candidates could fight back by broadcasting their own versions of events, but those previously implanted ideas would be difficult to rebut. And even if the false narratives swayed a small proportion of the voters, it might be enough to tip an election in favor of the person promoting the falsehoods. With AI, not only could voices be simulated and false photos used, but videos that were completely fabricated could be employed.
Autocratic states like Russia, Belarus, China and Iran could use AI as well to support candidates that they preferred and whom they believed they would be able to manipulate. This is being done currently in Eastern Europe in nations like Romania. There was so much false information about candidates circulated in Romania that the judiciary nullified the first round of voting which will have to be repeated. However, how will fabricated information be blocked the next time around. And other democracies in Europe and Asia will and have faced the same challenges as autocratic nations spread false information to support the candidates they favor, usually the far right.
It is believed by some that Russia may have hacked U.S. social media in the 2016 presidential election to disseminate information that helped Trump win. And it is possible Russia and China have been spreading falsehoods in other important senatorial elections and additional presidential elections. We do not have adequate technology and computer wizards to stop all false information originating from foreign nations and our own country from influencing elections. If a way is not found to block all local and foreign false information on social networks using AI, democracy may have difficulty surviving.
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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Posted at 09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: , AI, fabricated information, falsehoods, lies, photos, social media, speeches, video
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020