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The apocalypse that wasn’t: AI was everywhere in 2024’s elections, but deepfakes and misinformation were only part of the picture

Dec 05, 2024 - theconversation.com
The article discusses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the 2024 elections, a year in which 3.7 billion eligible voters in 72 countries had the chance to vote. AI was used in various ways, from language translation to connect with diverse constituents, to chatbots for voter interaction, to AI clones for delivering speeches. AI was also used in political fundraising, polling, and political organizing. Despite concerns about AI-generated misinformation and propaganda, the feared "death of truth" did not materialize.

However, the article also highlights the misuse of AI, such as the creation of fake audio, images, and text, and the attempts by foreign intelligence services to influence voters. Tech platforms are using AI to moderate content like hate speech and extremism, but there is room for improvement in making these systems fair and effective. Despite prohibitions on using AI tools for politics by corporate AI developers, enforcement has been ineffective and actual use is widespread. The article concludes that as AI becomes more powerful, it is likely to infiltrate every aspect of politics.

Key takeaways:

  • The year 2024 marked the first AI elections, with AI being used in various ways in electoral politics, including language translation, chatbots, fundraising, polling, and political organizing.
  • Despite fears, AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes did not overwhelm the democratic processes, and the 'death of truth' did not materialize due to AI.
  • AI was also used to protect the information ecosystem, with tech platforms using AI to automatically moderate content like hate speech and extremism.
  • Despite prohibitions on using AI tools for politics by corporate AI developers, enforcement has been ineffective and actual use is widespread, indicating that AI is likely to infiltrate every aspect of politics in the future.
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