Expert warns voters about “fake” A.I. generated content amidst election season

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) -Nominations are locked and campaigns are heading into their final push, but experts are now urging voters to beware of A.I. generated false information.

While Artificial Intelligence has proven to be a revolutionary tool in helping create videos, to essays and press releases, its integration into the political landscape could be threatening the integrity of upcoming elections.

“The adversaries of American democracy might use it to undermine confidence in elections, might use it to sow discord in American society,” Director of the Center for Cyber Social Dynamics at the University of Kansas, John Symons said. “ It could be used by specific candidates to distract or misinform opponents.”

A common tactic used is deep fakes, which is a technology that uses A.I. to alter photos, videos, or audio recordings to fabricate statements that never occurred. Symons says that even with advancements in A.I., deep fakes can be spotted with careful examination.

" Look at mouth movements,” Symons explained. “See how the mouth matches them, matches the voice. Look at hands, look at details of ears.”

Large language models are another type of A.I. that takes a big window of context from the internet to create content. Due to its flaws, those running are encouraged to avoid this tool when campaigning.

" Regularly, we see these systems just generating text that it thinks will please us or that it thinks is good enough that doesn’t necessarily reflect the truth,” Symons said.

Symons is looking ahead to November though, where he believes the biggest threat will come with efforts to deter voting with fake videos or stories insinuating threats to locations, specifically targeting swing states in the final hours.

“These kinds of disruptive news stories that are likely to enter into circulation around election day, that is going to be designed to suppress participation in elections,” Symons said.

A great deal of videos and social media content have emerged this election season with plenty more opportunities ahead, so, Symons reminds everyone to stay guarded and turn to local and reliable sources.

A spokesperson for the Kansas Secretary of State told 13 News that votekansas.org is the most reliable source for election and voting updates. County election offices are also trusted sources.