Did artificial intelligence shape the 2024 US election?
Al Jazeera
Experts feared AI deepfakes in elections, but traditional misinformation methods like social media claims prevailed.
Days after New Hampshire voters received a robocall with an artificially generated voice that resembled President Joe Biden’s, the Federal Communications Commission banned the use of AI-generated voices in robocalls.
It was a flashpoint. The 2024 United States election would be the first to unfold amid wide public access to AI generators, which let people create images, audio and video – some for nefarious purposes.
Institutions rushed to limit AI-enabled misdeeds.
Sixteen states enacted legislation around AI’s use in elections and campaigns; many of these states required disclaimers in synthetic media published close to an election. The Election Assistance Commission, a federal agency supporting election administrators, published an “AI toolkit” with tips election officials could use to communicate about elections in an age of fabricated information. States published their own pages to help voters identify AI-generated content.
Experts warned about AI’s potential to create deepfakes that made candidates appear to say or do things that they didn’t. The experts said AI’s influence could hurt the US both domestically – misleading voters, affecting their decision-making or deterring them from voting – and abroad, benefitting foreign adversaries.
