How artificial intelligence is threatening disruption in the US elections

AI-generated videos, pictures and audios of celebrities and politicians now flood the internet. It has been a problem during the election season, as was expected, with deep fake videos and audios spreading disinformation and confusion all over social media.

In Short

• California passed laws against AI deep fakes
• The regulatory laws have been challenged in court
• A federal bill for AI regulation has been proposed in US Congress

The US elections hold the attention of the world - and sometimes that invites more trouble than one expects. In the past years, the election has been muddied by interferences and attempted insurrections, both international and domestic. This year again, as the heated election draws close, with polls suggesting a very tight race, there have been instances of other parties interfering and disinformation running rampant on social media.

There is, however, a new troublemaker: AI.

Artificial intelligence was the news-maker for the entirety of last year, with Open AI, Google, Meta, and other tech giants all locking horns to gain supremacy. Once generative AI was out on the internet, trouble was bound to arise. And it did. A slew of deep fake videos and pictures have since flooded the internet targeting celebrities, religious leaders and, of course, politicians. The prospect of it being a nuisance during the US election season was expected by many.

Trouble did arise, but from an unexpected place. Former president and the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump posted an AI-generated picture of Taylor Swift dressed in American colours and the text on the image read: "Taylor Wants You To Vote For Donald Trump.” The image, posted in August, triggered the internet community, with some praising it and some raising concerns about the use of AI.

Swift did not address the issue at the time but mentioned it when she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. “Recently I was made aware that Al of 'me' falsely endorsing Donald Trump's presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around Al, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth,” Swift wrote in the post she made on Instagram.

CALIFORNIA STRIKES BACK

Amid growing concerns over the use of AI to spread misinformation during the election campaign, the state of California is cracking down . The governor of the state, Gavin Newsom -- a Democrat -- signed on September 17 three new laws aimed at curbing the influence of AI during elections.

The new law makes it illegal to create and publish deep fake content, whether audio or video, related to elections 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter. It also allows the US courts to stop the distribution of the materials and impose civil penalties.

The other two bills signed by the governor will go into effect next year and will require social media platforms like X and Facebook to take down such political deep fakes and campaigns to make public disclosures if they run ads with AI-generated or altered visuals. Parody videos are allowed to be generated and posted if they carry a disclaimer stating its comedic purpose.

CONTENTION WITH REGULATION

The laws were just recently signed and there’s already someone suing against such laws.

Christopher Kohls is the plaintiff in the case filed with a federal court in California, challenging the validity of such laws, calling them an abusive use of “state power to force private social media companies to censor private citizens’ speech by purging election-related AI-generated content.”

Kohls gained some popularity in July after creating and posting a deep fake video of Kamala Harris and using AI to mimic her voice and calling her the “ultimate diversity hire” and a “deep state puppet.” The video was reposted by Elon Musk on X, a platform he owns, which helped it get over 135 million views.

Musk also attacked Newsom after he signed the AI laws. The billionaire wrote on X: “You’re not gonna believe this, but Gavin Newsom just announced that he signed a LAW to make parody illegal, based on this video.” His recent contribution to the conversation was “Awesome” which he wrote while reposting a tweet announcing the news of Kohls’ lawsuit along with his deep fake video.

While the elections are just around the corner, a federal bill is sitting with the lawmakers that could potentially open the gates for countrywide AI regulation during elections. The proposed laws, the Business Standard reported, will allow the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to regulate the use of AI in elections in the same way it has regulated other political misrepresentation in the past. The agency, after making illegal AI-generated calls aimed to discourage voters, is seriously deliberating such regulations.