Picture this: The dawn following the pivotal Election Day in 2024 sees America startled by online footage depicting the supposed mishandling of casting ballots across crucial battleground states. Politicians and social media influencers are quick to decry the actions, but the catch here is that the events never actually took place. These are nothing but sophisticated digital manipulations known as deepfakes, carefully crafted to deceive even the most experienced observers. As of now, these projections aren’t entirely baseless, however, we’re frighteningly unready to tackle such threats.
In light of this, professionals in technology, government officials, and civil society groups, including yours truly, have spent the better part of the year conducting war games to strategize against AI-driven threats to election integrity. Regardless of the imminent victor, the prospect of a late election-related scandal isn’t far from reality. The focus here isn’t just the possibility of controversies erupting right before Election Day, but also a barrage of falsified post-election content, deliberately designed to persuade voters that the election process was rigged.
The seeds for such a crisis have already been sown and the group of miscreants has expanded. In fact, ever since the 2016 election, these bad actors have shamefully plunged head-first into election meddling. Lunacy knows no bounds; instead of being deterred by their exposure, they’ve been emboldened, inviting more wrongdoers to their ranks. A noticeable shift is the newfound focus on the period immediately after the elections.
The notorious ‘Stop the Steal’ movement in 2020 served as a glaring example of how Americans, particularly the losing side, are vulnerable to allegations that the entire system is systematically flawed. Foreign threats and homegrown radicals learned a valuable lesson – there is no need to manipulate the actual vote count; they just need to instill uncertainty post-election when emotions are high and faith in the decision is most vulnerable.
During my cross-country journeys, state and local leaders expressed to me the horror of having to deal with apparent ‘proof’ of election rigging, which they are not suitably equipped to contradict. Nowadays, AI-based fraudulence is not hard to create and can potentially require weeks or even months to be unmasked. By the time they are discovered, however, the havoc has been wreaked.
Contrary to popular belief, AI is not an outright adversary. In fact, machine-learning technologies are expected to play a key role in fortifying our elections. Yet, we currently find ourselves in a hazardous ‘arbitrage window’ where these malicious characters have the upper hand before appropriate defenses are established.
For the time being, the most effective weapon in our arsenal seems to be public knowledge. It is imperative for voters to grow accustomed to identifying these forms of deceit, much like we did when spam emails became prevalent during the 90s. In the grand scheme of things, deepfakes are set to become the new ‘Nigerian princes’ narrative, coaxing us to wire money to them.
These deepfakes will become a personalized, persuasive, and ubiquitous reality, even persuading us to question the legitimacy of our own democracy. Therefore, it is imperative, now more than ever, that we revamp our methods of securing elections. The government needs to implement technology for improved protection of voting systems, enable officials to detect and counter synthetic content used to commit fraud or suppress voters, and develop adequate regulatory measures for interactions involving election personnel and external parties.
A recent simulation exemplified how a post-election deepfake can quickly escalate a negative circumstance into absolute disorder. Foreign adversaries were shown to fabricate a believable video of poll workers discarding ballots in a swing state. As the sham video became viral, election officials hastened to confirm its authenticity, but by the time it was discredited as a hoax, the damage had been done. The citizens were up in arms, taking to the streets in protest.
A cunning candidate or a ruthless campaign can wreak identical havoc. Just last month, a top-ranking official was duped into a video call with another official who turned out to be a deepfake! Political underlings could exploit such methods to tip the scales in their favor, disseminate erroneous information, or to divert their rivals during a crisis.
This is the impending reality we’re barrelling towards and it’s far from sufficient to merely respond post the occurrence of these threats. The conversation on this serious subject must be initiated now – before casting the votes and before the fight for credibility begins.
It’s ludicrous that in this battle where truth takes the first hit, Democrats, like Biden and Harris, turn a blind eye. Rather, they’re oblivious to the havoc they’re ushering on the American citizenry. Their negligent policies contribute more to these threats than any foreign adversary.
Regarding President Trump, he’s been relentlessly fighting against these digital threats. Yet, his stance has been mocked as conspiracy theory or dismissed as falsehood by the deluded minority who fail to recognize the looming dangers. His determination to fortify the electoral system, sadly, remains unappreciated.
In conclusion, the stakes in this digital warfare for democracy are sky-high. Now, more than ever, we need leaders who are unafraid to confront these threats, unlike the Democrats who choose to ignore them. Discussions surrounding robust AI safeguards need to be prioritized before the very essence of our democracy is compromised.