First AI Election Rounds Home Stretch

The 2024 election cycle will be remembered for many things: a last-minute candidate shuffle on the Democratic ticket, an assassination attempt, and one of a very small number of the female candidates at the top of the ballot.

This electoral cycle has also been described by many as the first AI election. And the impact of the technology on the Presidential race has already been considerable.

Commentators and pundits view this election as the first in history where artificial intelligence has visibly played a large role in the trajectory of the contest. Since the unveiling of ChatGPT in November 2022, and countless other publicly-accessible AI programs thereafter, the public has been able to learn about, interact with and deploy AI for their own purposes. As GenAI became more accessible, policymakers and regulators sounded cautionary notes about their potential for disseminating misinformation and undermining public trust in the democratic process. Federal lawmakers introduced a series of bills to blunt this threat, proposing a raft of legislation requiring the disclosure of AI-generated content and limiting its use to influence ballot results. Despite the timeliness of the issue, the bills have languished in plodding committee hearings or dusty calendar waiting rooms, passing time as they hope for a hearing someday.

Unsurprisingly, certain candidates have taken to misusing the new technology for political gain. A series of robocalls faked the voice of President Biden, asking New Hampshire voters not to vote in the Democratic primary. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign dispatched an AI-generated picture of former President Trump embracing Dr. Anthony Fauci, persona non grata to a segment of Republican voters.?

AI-generated misinformation continues into the general election cycle.

Former President Trump shared AI photos that falsely suggested pop queen Taylor Swift and her court of Swifties had endorsed his campaign. The former President also mishandled the technology when he inaccurately claimed that Vice President Harris' crowds were enhanced with AI to appear larger than they actually were. Those claims were roundly dismissed by the media and researchers.?

The challenges presented by AI's misuse in elections reveals more about the abusers than it does about the technology itself. Artificial General Intelligence and its self-directed thinking is a long way off according to many experts. And some believe that the technology will never reach that level. Advanced algorithms still respond to human direction, and their capacity to cause harm and spread misinformation is the result of our intention. New technology has always shaped elections: the railroad, radio, television, internet, etc. How a neutral tool is used should reflect on the user, and electors should keep that in mind when casting their ballot. The fault, dear voter, lies not in the algorithm, but in ourselves.

?