From The Hill
Deepfakes raise alarm about AI in elections
By Julia Mueller
Experts, officials and observers alike are sounding alarms about the dangers deepfakes pose for 2024 as it gets easier to use artificial intelligence (AI) and spread synthetic content that could stoke disinformation and confuse voters in a critical election year.
Last week, a local Arizona newsletter released an AI-generated deepfake video of Senate candidate Kari Lake in order to warn readers “just how good this technology is getting.” In Georgia, lawmakers advocated for a bill that would bar deepfakes in political communications by playing clips of fabricated endorsements...
Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information, said another concern is whether AI might be used as a scapegoat.
“We can create fake content to try to harm a candidate, to try to discourage people from voting. But then, when you really do get caught in something dumb or illegal or embarrassing, you get to cry ‘fake,’ and that means there is no more reality, right? Everything is suspect now,” said Farid, who runs a project that’s tracking deepfakes in the 2024 cycle...
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley. He specializes in digital forensics.
