Member-only story
AI-Generated Media in Politics
What’s this about: AI-generated media is one tool in the AI arsenal being deployed by governments and independent actors all across the globe. This new and effective tool is often used to target political parties and figures. At the same time, AI-generated media can help political parties become more in touch with their base, and it’s a key tool in the fight against disinformation. With a political environment as strained as ours, one single piece of fake media can throw our world upside down, which is why it’s crucial for us to understand its involvement in today’s politics.
Before reading this piece, make sure to check out:
Deepfakes in Politics
Deepfakes, which are usually a type of fake media involving images and videos, have been making a lot of headlines over the last few years, and not for good reasons. They are increasingly being deployed by bad actors to trick populations into believing a video, statement, or image is real when in fact it’s not. Deepfakes involve the use of deep learning algorithms to create a type of fake media content, usually a video with or without audio. This fake media is fabricated to make it look like someone said or did something that they did not. You can see how this could have major implications on the world stage.
>>> Check out my previous article “Modern Information Wars” to learn more about deepfakes.
The world of politics is getting even stranger than it already is, which seems nearly impossible. The political realm is dipping deeper into the uncanny valley thanks to things like deepfakes.
Just take a look at South Korea, which witnessed a very unique use of AI-generated media when it held its presidential elections on March 9. Opposition leader Yoon Suk-yeol came away victorious after his campaign involved a unique strategy…to say the least. His team relied on deepfake technology to create an “AI avatar” of the candidate, which was then deployed to interact with potential voters. With that said, the questions had very little to do with actual policy.
