Context

This Article is based on the news “Many elections, AI’s dark dimension” which was published in the Hindu. With a series of elections to be held worldwide in 2024, it is essential to recognise that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to disrupt democracy. 

AI in Elections: A Global Perspective

• Electoral Landscape: With the seven-phase general election in India being announced and held from April 19 to June 1, 2024, political parties and the electorate cannot, however, afford to ignore the AI dimension. 
• This year, elections are also scheduled to be held (according to some reports) in as many as 50 other countries across the globe, apart from India, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• Advisory by the Government: Recently, the Indian Government clarified its AI advisory on generative AI services and elections was directed towards “significant” platforms and not startups.
• Impact & Manipulation: In March 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal brought into mainstream public discourse the impact of social media on electoral politics, and the possibility of manipulating the views of Facebook users using data mined from their private posts. 

Significant Potential of AI in Elections

• Increased and Effective Voter Engagement: By spreading awareness through social platforms in education campaigns, AI can help the voters to understand the issues and candidates, which can consequently result in increased engagement and inform voters more effectively.
• The ECI can use social media to disseminate relevant information like important dates for the new voter registration, date and time of voting, etc. It can also encourage first-time voters to participate in the democratic process. 
• Promoting Inclusiveness: With the help of AI-based Apps like Bhashini, the information can be made available in multiple Indian languages. This will be helpful for the deprived sections of the society.
  • AI technologies can help voters with disabilities, such as those who are visually impaired, making the voting process more accessible and inclusive.
• Election Transparency and Security: AI can help in the implementation of transparent advertising policies, rolling out content labels, and restricting election-related queries to combat misinformation.
• Machine learning algorithms can help in the identification of election threats that may indicate attempts at interference, ensuring the security of electronic voting systems and voter databases.
• To Streamline Electoral Processes: AI can automate various associated tasks, from voter registration to tallying and can lead to more efficient electoral processes, reduce human error and provide faster, more reliable results.
• The AI-based chatbot can be introduced on the Election Commission’s website to address the grievances. 
  • AI tools will monitor polling processes,analyze data, and ensure election integrity through machine learning algorithms and preventive measures.
• Strengthened Democracy: The ECI is also making optimum use of the technology with options like online voter registration and releasing the voter’s list on the website. They can use AI and Social Media to create awareness and broader reach and address grievances.
• Cost-Effective: Generative AI can create campaign materials at a significantly lower cost and with greater efficiency. 
  • AI allows marketers and advertisers to automate and optimize advertising campaigns, saving time and resources. 

What Challenges Are Associated with the Use of AI in Elections?

• Misinformation & Disinformation: Deepfakes and other AI-generated content can create hyper-realistic digital falsification and can potentially be used to damage reputations, fabricate evidence, and undermine trust in democratic institutions. 
• Supportive Studies: A new study published in PNAS Nexus predicts that disinformation campaigns will increasingly use generative AI to propagate election falsehoods and will help spread toxic content across social media platforms almost daily in 2024.

• • The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Perception Survey ranks misinformation and disinformation among the top 10 risks, with easy-to-use interfaces of large-scale AI models enabling a boom in false information and “synthetic” content. It also warned that disinformation could destabilise societies by discrediting and questioning the legitimacy of governments.
• Influence through Deceptive Content: The hyper-realistic deep fakes of pictures, audio, or video could influence voters powerfully before being fact-checked. 

• • Visual Tools: Generative AI companies with the most popular visual tools prohibit users from creating “misleading” images. However, researchers with the British nonprofit Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) succeeded in making deceptive election-related images more than 40% of the time.
• Social Media Amplification: Social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter compound the influence and misinformation risks, which significantly cut their fact-checking and election integrity teams. 
  • While YouTube, TikTok and Facebook do require labelling of election-related advertisements generated with AI, that may not be a foolproof deterrent.
• Microtargeting: through micro-targeting techniques, AI algorithms can be used to manipulate voter preferences and undermine the fairness of elections by influencing voters.
  • Biasness: AI systems could exhibit bias due to the data they were trained on.
    • Example: This could make the Cambridge Analytica scandal appear microscopic. 
  • The persuasive ability of AI models would be far superior to the bots and automated social media accounts that are now baseline tools for spreading disinformation.
• Privacy Concerns: The main privacy concerns surrounding AI is the potential for data breaches and unauthorized access to personal information. With so much data being collected and processed, there is a risk that it could fall into the wrong hands, either through hacking or other security breaches.
  • Example: A Japanese hospital faced public outrage when it was revealed they used patient data without consent to develop an AI diagnostic tool.
  • Also, a ‘deepfake’ video of Rashmika Mandanna went viral on social media.
• Erosion of Trust: The mere existence of AI-generated content can foster a general atmosphere of distrust, where people question the authenticity of all information. This phenomenon is known as the liar’s dividend.
  • It suggests that when fake content is so easily produced, the public may become sceptical even of genuine information, leading to a breakdown in the credibility of election-related communications.
• No Specific Law: India lacks specific laws to address deepfakes and AI-related crimes, but provisions under many legislations could offer civil and criminal relief. 
  • Example: Section 66E of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) is applicable in cases of deepfake crimes that involve the capture, publication, or transmission of a person’s images in mass media, thereby violating their privacy. 
  • Such an offence is punishable with up to 3 years of imprisonment or a fine of ₹2 lakh. 

Actions Taken by India

• Issuance of Advisory to Digital Platforms: 

  • The Indian government has asked digital platforms to provide technical and business process solutions to prevent and weed out misinformation that can harm society and democracy. 
    • The government said a legal framework against deepfakes and disinformation will be finalised after the elections.
    • The government also said companies should not generate illegal responses under Indian laws or “threaten the integrity of the electoral process”. 

• Collaboration: 

  • The ECI engaged with leading technology firms, including OpenAI, to develop strategies for combating AI-driven misinformation and enhancing the security of the electoral process. 
    • It aims to identify potential vulnerabilities in the election ecosystem and deploy AI solutions to detect and neutralize threats like deepfakes or automated bots spreading false information.
    • Google-ECI Partnership: Google has partnered with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to prevent the spread of false information during the general elections. Google is committed to providing reliable information and preventing deceptive AI-generated content.

• Guidelines for Political Advertisements on Digital Platforms: 

  • By setting such policies, the ECI seeks to ensure that voters are informed about the source and intent of the content they are exposed to, reducing the risk of manipulation through micro-targeted ads.

• Voter-Friendly Environment: 

  • To foster public trust and counteract the potential spread of misinformation, the ECI is also investing in public awareness campaigns. 
    • It aims to educate voters about the risks associated with digital content and encourage critical engagement with information sources, enhancing the electorate’s resilience against disinformation.

• Multi-faceted Approach: 

  • The ECI’s approach of regulatory measures, technological solutions, and public education demonstrates its commitment to maintaining the integrity of the electoral process in the age of AI. 
    • Use in Kolkata: The Election Commission in Kolkata plans to use AI to detect irregularities at sensitive booths early during the Lok Sabha elections. 

Way Forward

• Regulation Framework: There is a need to establish a precise legal framework mechanism for the use of AI in elections, such as regulations on data protection, transparency in AI-driven advertising and standards for the ethical use of AI.
• Collaboration: Governments and electoral bodies must collaborate with technology companies to combat misinformation and secure electoral processes. 
  • Policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society must collaborate to develop policies and practices that support the responsible use of AI technologies.
  • Examples: Recently, companies like OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and Google signed a pledge last month to fight AI content that can be deemed misleading during the polls. 
• Public Awareness: Educating the public about the challenges of AI-generated misinformation can empower voters to evaluate the information critically. 
  • Campaigns that promote digital literacy and critical thinking are needed to promote against disinformation.
• Technological Solutions: The time has come to develop AI systems capable of detecting and flagging false information and deepfakes. 
  • There is a need to develop ethical AI that prioritizes transparency and accountability.
• Consider Other Significant Issues: The threat from AI-generated deepfakes that can potentially impact elections, become ammunition for revenge pornography, or help create child sexual abuse material needs to be taken into account as well.
• Maintain Privacy: The responsible development and deployment of AI is desirable to minimize individual privacy and civil liberties risks. 
  • AI algorithms should be designed to minimize the collection and processing of personal data and ensure that the data is kept secure and confidential.

Conclusion

This is an era where technological evolution is inevitable. Maintaining democratic principles whilst utilising technology for advancement calls for significant thought and constant ethical examination. The proper integration of social media and AI will influence political discourse and decision-making for years to come as Bharat moves towards the Amrit Kaal of its democracy.