Progress through technology has greatly improved since the time of Pong and Pac-Man, evolving with every technological boom. But there is concern over its jurisdiction and how powerful it can be. Certain videos and photos can be used and manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) to sway a certain narrative. As 2024 is an election year, it is important to get the correct information about candidates in upcoming elections to make the best possible decision for a country, so it is clear regulation of AI is necessary.
AI was once only the fear of fictional worlds such as “Terminator” and “Metropolis,” but now with advancements in technology, this is no longer only the fear of Hollywood movies. With already high tension without election campaigns shoved in our faces, AI will only make things more exhausting and anxiety-inducing as people won’t be able to discern if information is real.
Situations such as the AI-generated photos of Taylor Swift, which went viral due to their explicit content, deepfake photos and videos can negatively affect a person’s life and can change a person’s viewpoint by tricking them into believing what they’re seeing is real.
To stop AI getting to a point where no one can believe anything they see, there must be regulations put in place for AI. However, with technology advancing almost faster than we can blink, this will be a difficult task to undertake.
However, according to CNN reporter Claire Duffy, big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, Meta, TikTok, Adobe and OpenAI are some of the few groups who are “work[ing] together to detect and counter harmful AI content in elections, including deepfakes of political candidates.”
The agreement, called “Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections,” will work to fight AI-generated content that could be harmful to people who want to be able to differentiate what is real and what is not. Being able to discern what is real is vital for making electoral decisions that could affect peoples’ lives later on.”
Another troubling aspect of AI use is the ability to mimic voices, which has advanced since its humble beginnings. At first voice AI was easy to detect if they were real or sounded like a robot, but now it has become difficult to tell which voice is real or not. In this, it is clear that giving viewers greater ability to discern what’s true and false in AI information is critical and even more of a priority given the upcoming election.
This is not to say that AI is only known for bad things, as it can create images that may have been lost to time or natural disasters, and can help people. According to the World Economic Forum, AI has been used to tackle the conflict of illegal fishing and has helped with measures to prevent human trafficking.
While AI is a great thing for people to peruse, adding regulations as soon as possible is critical to getting the correct information so we are not tricked into believing content that has been generated by a computer, especially when the future of the country is at stake.
