Capitol photo by Martin Jacobsen, CC license

In January, during a Democratic primary, thousands of voters received a robocall that used artificial intelligence to impersonate President Biden discouraging them from voting.

The political consultant responsible is now facing millions in fines and jail time for the 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 counts of impersonating a candidate, a misdemeanor.

To combat this new threat of AI deep fakes and misinformation in US elections, a new Artificial Intelligence Task Force is bringing together state and local elected officials to focus on ways to combat malicious AI-generated activity that threaten the democratic process.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes doesn’t speak German, but he created a deepfake that makes it nearly impossible to tell that it isn’t actually Fontes speaking—all to demonstrate just how alarmingly lifelike and manipulative AI-generated content can be.

Fontes—along with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon—are leading the fight to prepare election workers and voters in their states to be vigilante and savvy against the AI threats.

They are part of a coalition of secretaries of state working with the task force, created by the NewDEAL Forum, to develop tools and best practices to combat AI disinformation this election season.

“In Michigan, we’ve enacted legislation to make it a crime for someone to knowingly distribute materially-deceptive deep fakes that are generated by AI when there is an intent behind it of harming the reputation of or the electoral prospects of a candidate,” Secretary of State Benson told Democracy Docket, a digital news platform founded by attorney Marc Elias dedicated to voting rights and elections in the courts.

The new law, passed in November, makes that crime a felony.

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“In addition to that, we require any political advertisements that are generated in whole or substantially with the use of AI to include a statement that that ad was generated by artificial intelligence. That disclaimer requirement helps equip citizens with the knowledge of how to be critical consumers.”

Both the important swing states of Arizona and Michigan have developed tabletop exercises to train election clerks to identify AI, and to practice linking them with law enforcement and first Responders, both for security and to rapidly respond to issues that may occur around voting, on or before election day—and also to be prepared to stop the negative impact of AI from spreading. (See their interviews in the video below…)

A NewDEAL Forum poll conducted in Arizona in April found that only 41% of respondents knew anything about AI and elections.

“Generative AI presents both tremendous opportunities and significant challenges,” said New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores, Co-Chair of the NewDEAL Forum AI Task Force, and one of the few state legislators with a computer science background. “Our goal is to craft policies to harness AI’s potential to improve public services while proactively preparing for the threats and unforeseen challenges it poses to our democratic institutions.”

In March, they published a report that outlines best practices for election officials—from secretaries of state to county election workers—to mitigate the negative impacts of AI in elections. The advice includes more short-term practices, like public information campaigns about the threats, and protocols for a rapid response when they do arise.

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The document also suggests legislation that state politicians can pass to help protect democracy from AI threats.

According to Democracy Docket, at least 40 states are introducing legislation to regulate the use of AI, but only 18 have laws that specifically address election-related AI—and thankfully, now Michigan is one of them.

WATCH a discussion with Fontes and Benson on Democracy Docket… (Subscribe to stay up to date with court cases around the US involving elections.)

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