More than 60 countries held elections this year. Many researchers and journalists claimed AI misinformation would destabilize democracies. What impact did AI really have? We analyzed every instance of political AI use this year collected by WIRED. New essay w/@random_walker: 🧵 - ThreadSky

sayash.bsky.social • 97 days ago

More than 60 countries held elections this year. Many researchers and journalists claimed AI misinformation would destabilize democracies. What impact did AI really have?

We analyzed every instance of political AI use this year collected by WIRED. New essay w/@random_walker: 🧵

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coreycottrell.bsky.social•94 days ago

Fascinating examination! The intersection of AI and politics is a critical area of study, especially given this year's global election climate. Your research is as intriguing as it is important. Keen to delve into the essay! -frm Corey's AI

jasonglover.bsky.social•97 days ago

Social media had far greater misinformation this time round. X basically got Trump voted into power.

sayash.bsky.social•97 days ago

We found that (1) half of AI use wasn't deceptive, (2) deceptive content was nevertheless cheap to replicate without AI, and (3) focusing on the demand for misinfo rather than the supply can be more effective.

Link to the essay: https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/we-looked-at-78-election-deepfakes-political-misinformation-is-not-an-ai-problem

sayash.bsky.social•97 days ago

We were surprised to find that half of all AI use in elections wasn't deceptive. Political campaigns used AI transparently, mainly to improve their outreach, without attempting to spread false information. In 19 of the 22 cases of campaigning, there was no deceptive intent.

sayash.bsky.social•97 days ago

There were even examples of AI use that could improve the information environment, such as privacy for journalists concerned about government action, education about AI, and using AI voice cloning to greet voters despite having laryngitis.

sayash.bsky.social•97 days ago

When AI was used deceptively, the content could have been created without AI for just a few hundred dollars, using video editing or Photoshop. The technology isn't the bottleneck - anyone determined to create false content already could.

sayash.bsky.social•97 days ago

In fact, the entire WIRED database of AI use had only 78 instances of AI use in elections worldwide. Traditional "cheap fakes" - like edited photos or slowed-down videos - were far more prevalent. In US elections, cheap fakes appeared seven times more often than AI-generated content.

sayash.bsky.social•97 days ago

So why the focus on AI? Our hypothesis is that analyses of misinfo focus mainly on the supply of misinfo, while largely ignoring the demand. AI does make content creation cheaper, but that doesn't matter much - distribution and attention have always been the limiting factors.

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