The Potential Impact of Deepfake Technology on the U.S Elections in 2024
Elections in the U.S. tend to have a global impact as the world’s biggest economy draws eyeballs from all parts of the world. No other country comes close to garnering such a level of interest from global commentators, political spokespersons, economists, technology enthusiasts and even climate activists.
As we prepare for the election year in the U.S. and other countries in 2024, the threat from deepfake technology has to be tackled effectively for a free and fair run.
What is Deepfake Technology?
Deepfake technology is used to manipulate existing media to create fake content using artificial intelligence or deep learning. It can include manipulation of images, video and audio sources. It is most commonly used to replace an individual’s face with another face. Read more here.
Deepfakes have been around for some time now, with earlier use cases majorly comprising commercial usage in films. However, in 2017, some distressing cases of deepfakes began to emerge with scammers creating deepfake pornography of individuals and then blackmailing them.
Deepfakes and Political Manipulation
Another alarming use of deepfake technology is political manipulation. Speeches of prominent figures such as Barack Obama and Donald Trump emerged where they advocated viewpoints contrary to their popular beliefs. Since the technology used was quite high-end, it became very difficult for mainstream internet users to determine that it was a fake video.
The threat of deep fakes in the 2024 elections
A pressing concern is the sophistication of current technology and how it has evolved over the years. Criminal groups have stepped up in their efforts by creating ultra-realistic footage that is becoming indistinguishable.
As we navigate through the early elections and primary caucuses, candidates around the country are working towards extensive campaigning for mid-year activities. In such a scenario, with massive campaigning, it will make it almost impossible for a human to audit each campaign video or live stream that goes onto any form of digital media.
Misinformation
Quoting false information, exaggerating numbers and creating propaganda have always been a component of elections worldwide. However, with deepfakes that threat is amplified. People can be made to believe that their candidate is advocating for something entirely against their constituency. This can cause them to change their voting preferences.
In Slovakia, a liberal candidate’s audio recordings were spread a couple of days before the poll. It contained some things that did not sit well with the major public and hence, it had a direct impact on the number of people that voted for the candidate. As it turned out, the audios were created with deepfake technology but it was too late before the final analysis came out.
Impact on close calls
Tight races that are won on narrow margins will see a greater impact of deepfake technology. Since a lot of individuals make informed decisions on who to vote for, the decision will entirely tilt if the information is incorrect.
How to tackle the threat of deepfakes?
Awareness
As cybercriminals constantly add to their arsenal, security companies around the world have begun to raise awareness about mitigating the threat of deepfakes. The first step is creating media literacy, and focusing on educating people on how they can spot inconsistencies in videos and other media.
Regulation around the use of generative AI
Regulatory authorities in the EU have already introduced fair practices for the use of AI. Deepfake generation has become easier with the availability of widespread applications available to the general public. The regulation and monitoring of these apps is mandatory and it needs to be ensured that they are not used for any illicit activities.
Detection Tools
Biometric security companies such as Facia are introducing free tools for the public to upload their videos and check a video’s authenticity. The tool would use advanced ML techniques to identify deepfakes with 100% accuracy and an instant response time.
Conclusion
In the contemporary world, it is imperative to introduce measures that tackle advanced cybercrime activities such as fake content generation from deepfakes. Biometric security organisations and governments have to work in coordination to introduce legislation that would safeguard the general interest of society. Let’s hope that the busiest election year in the world pans out successfully for each country involved for a safer and more prosperous world.
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Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
