The New York Times no paywall – “Since the explosion of generative artificial intelligence over the last two years, the technology has demeaned or defamed opponents and, for the first time, officials and experts said, begun to have an impact on election results. Free and easy to use, A.I. tools have generated a flood of fake photos and videos of candidates or supporters saying things they did not or appearing in places they were not — all spread with the relative impunity of anonymity online. The technology has amplified social and partisan divisions and bolstered antigovernment sentiment, especially on the far right, which has surged in recent elections in Germany, Poland and Portugal. In Romania, a Russian influence operation using A.I. tainted the first round of last year’s presidential election, according to government officials. A court there nullified that result, forcing a new vote last month and bringing a new wave of fabrications. It was the first major election in which A.I. played a decisive role in the outcome. It is unlikely to be the last. As the technology improves, officials and experts warn, it is undermining faith in electoral integrity and eroding the political consensus necessary for democratic societies to function. Madalina Botan, a professor at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, said there was no question that the technology was already “being used for obviously malevolent purposes” to manipulate voters. “These mechanics are so sophisticated that they truly managed to get a piece of content to go very viral in a very limited amount of time,” she said. “What can compete with this?” In the unusually concentrated wave of elections that took place in 2024, A.I. was used in more than 80 percent, according to the International Panel on the Information Environment, an independent organization of scientists based in Switzerland. It documented 215 instances of A.I. in elections that year, based on government statements, research and news reports. Already this year, A.I. has played a role in at least nine more major elections, from Canada to Australia…”
There were numerous malign examples in last year’s American presidential election, prompting public warnings by officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Under Mr. Trump, the agencies have dismantled the teams that led those efforts. “In 2024, the potential benefits of these technologies were largely eclipsed by their harmful misuse,” said Inga Kristina Trauthig, a professor at Florida International University, who led the international panel’s survey. The most intensive deceptive uses of A.I. have come from autocratic countries seeking to interfere in elections outside their borders, like Russia, China and Iran. The technology has allowed them to amplify support for candidates more pliant to their worldview — or simply to discredit the idea of democratic governance itself as an inferior political system…”
