New era of AI deepfakes complicates 2024 elections
The explosion of artificial-intelligence technology makes it easier than ever to deceive people on the internet, and is turning the 2024 U.S. presidential election into an unprecedented test on how to police deceptive content. An early salvo was fired last month in New Hampshire.
Days before the state’s presidential primary, an estimated 5,000 to 25,000 calls went out telling recipients not to bother voting. “Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday," the voice said. It sounded like President Biden, but it was created by AI, according to an analysis by security firm Pindrop.
The message also discouraged independent voters from participating in the Republican primary. On social media, however, the call’s origin was up for debate. On Meta Platforms’ Threads app, some users saw an attempt to suppress voter turnout.
“This IS election interference," wrote one. On former President Donald Trump’s site Truth Social, some users blamed Democrats for the call. “Probably not fake," one posted.
When Pindrop analyzed the audio, they found telltale signs the call was phony. The Biden voice pronounced the noisy fricative sounds that make up the letters S and F, for example, in a very unhuman way. Two weeks later, the New Hampshire attorney general’s office said it identified a Texas-based company named Life Corp.as the source of the calls and that it issued a cease-and-desist order citing law against voter suppression.
Representatives for Life Corp. didn’t respond to emails seeking comment. Thanks to recent advances in generative AI, virtually anyone can create increasingly convincing but fake images, audio and videos, as well as fictional social-media users and bots that appear human.
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