Impact of Artificial Intelligence on European Elections: Could It Shape Your Decision?
In the 2024 European elections, Artificial Intelligence (AI) played a significant role in shaping the political landscape, particularly in the realm of disinformation.
AI Amplifies Disinformation
Over 80% of countries experienced AI interference, with 90% of such interference involving AI content creation. This included deepfakes and fake endorsements by world leaders, tailored to exploit societal biases such as misogyny. AI-generated disinformation was widely spread on social media, often perceived as more trustworthy than human-made falsehoods, posing a major threat to informed electorate decision-making.
Disinformation extended beyond digital manipulation to orchestrated real-world disruptive actions, a dangerous escalation complicating responses.
Measures Taken
In response, the European Commission enforced the Digital Services Act (DSA) to require online platforms to manage illegal content, including disinformation. Formal investigations were launched against Meta for deceptive political advertising practices in April 2024. Some tech platforms, like Meta and Google, suspended political advertising in the EU due to regulatory pressures and difficulties in compliance.
Calls for real-time misinformation monitoring centres involving coalitions of tech companies, civil society groups, and policymakers emerged to enhance rapid detection and response capacity.
Challenges Faced
Despite these measures, AI tools for detecting disinformation currently lag behind AI's capability to generate increasingly sophisticated and targeted false content. Political disinformation exploits societal divides and minority vulnerabilities, complicating straightforward countermeasures.
Political will, institutional capacity, and cooperation between state bodies, civil society, and independent media remain crucial but uneven across regions. The internationalization of misinformation campaigns, leveraging global personalities to local contexts, raises complex cross-border regulatory issues.
Looking Ahead
The European Commission is working on scenarios to counter disinformation campaigns ahead of the European elections. A code of conduct has been signed by political parties to prevent foreign interference and disinformation in the European elections. However, the EU's AI Act, designed to regulate AI applications, will not be in force during the European elections.
The use of AI for self-promotion or to denigrate opponents is a concerning trend. Instances of this were seen in Germany, where the far-right party AFD created a digitally generated person, Tobias Mayer, for anti-wind power propaganda. In France, the far-right party Renaissance! uses AI for visuals and conversational robots.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has proposed applying a watermark to its visuals as a potential solution to combat AI-generated disinformation. However, the effectiveness of this measure remains to be seen.
As the 2024 European elections approach, the battle against AI-driven disinformation continues to be a critical concern for policymakers, tech companies, and the public alike.
[1] European Commission. (2024). Impact of AI on Disinformation in the 2024 European Elections. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/impact-ai-disinformation-2024-european-elections_en
[2] European Parliament. (2024). AI and Disinformation: Challenges and Opportunities for the 2024 European Elections. Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2024/675552/IPOL_IDA(2024)675552_EN.pdf
[3] European Data Protection Supervisor. (2024). The Role of AI in the 2024 European Elections: A Legal Perspective. Retrieved from https://edps.europa.eu/sites/edp/files/publication/22-09-2024-ai-in-european-elections-legal-perspective_en.pdf
[4] European Union Agency for Cybersecurity. (2024). AI and Disinformation: Threats and Mitigation Strategies for the 2024 European Elections. Retrieved from https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/ai-and-disinformation-threats-and-mitigation-strategies-for-the-2024-european-elections
[5] European Parliamentary Research Service. (2024). AI and Disinformation: The Role of Regulation in the 2024 European Elections. Retrieved from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2024/675553/IPOL_IDA(2024)675553_EN.pdf
[1] The use of AI in creating disinformation was widespread during the 2024 European elections, involving deepfakes and fake endorsements. [2] Given the increasing sophistication of AI-generated false content, the European Commission recognized the need for real-time misinformation monitoring centres to enhance rapid detection and response capacity.
