As we approach the final weeks before the general election, we decide whom to elect to local offices, Congress, the Senate, and the Presidency. We also need to be aware that new Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology may be used to create and spread misinformation about the election process, the candidates, and the policy issues.
Election misinformation is designed to sway our opinions with inaccuracies in proposed policies, the candidates themselves, and voter information. AI also makes it easier to generate and distribute false information.
In fact, there are already examples of election misinformation and AI:
- During the New Hampshire primary, an AI voice generating app created a message that sounded like President Joe Biden telling people not to go to the polls and vote. The message was sent to voters by a Robo-caller app.
- A fact checker identified that a deep-fake AI generated photo showed a political candidate with a group of voters of color. The event never happened.
- In the 2016 election, false ads claiming that emails had been stored on an insecure server went viral and may have swayed the outcome of that election.
- In the 2020 election, some sensational false claims became viral on social media by redistributing posts using AI about election fraud claiming dead people and non-citizens voted.
The bottom line is do not believe all that you see and hear during this election season. Check out information before spreading it to someone else. This is how misinformation becomes viral.
As a citizen, the ability to vote for candidates and policy issues is a constitutional right. Vote for the candidate of your choice on November 5.
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By Linda Lindquist, October 14, 2024