Artificial Intelligence has integrated into numerous aspects of daily life, including the 2024 election. Jessica Feezell, a Political Science Associate Professor at The University of New Mexico, asserts that AI's influence on this election will be unprecedented.
“We see AI playing a huge role in communication we have via email, in the writing we produce, the way we structure our schedules, from a basic sitting at a desk standpoint,” she said. “There is absolutely no reason for us to think that people won’t leverage the power of computers and AI to develop content that benefits their causes and purposes.”
The U.S. Department of State defines Artificial Intelligence as a machine-based system capable of making predictions, recommendations, or decisions affecting real or virtual environments based on human-defined objectives.
“One of the most concerning elements of AI is the ability of people to nefariously create information that looks to be true but is not," Feezell stated. "For example, to create pictures, change images, to make them seem original but they’re modified, to create text, to fabricate stories, to do all of this without any open transparent statements or requirements to identify it as false or generated by artificial intelligence.”
Feezell highlighted an incident from mid-August where Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally in Detroit. The Trump campaign falsely claimed that images from the event were artificially generated to exaggerate crowd size.
"If you combine false stories against Harris or Trump with our very personal social networks that are now supercharged with social network capabilities, then that information has a much bigger life and longevity," Feezell noted.
Identifying artificial intelligence remains challenging. Feezell advises reading from various sources with different political biases such as FOX and CNN. She also recommends checking publication dates and URLs and using fact-checking resources like factcheck.com or reverse image searches.
“Think about the source of the information you’re consuming, especially if it feels good because that's when our guards are down," she cautioned.
Regulating advanced technology like AI poses another challenge due to its complexity and Congress's limited fluency in high-tech matters. "Such regulation would come from Congress...this is a very high-tech space that a lot of those representatives don’t have fluency in," she explained. “Relying on Congress to proactively get ahead of machine-based large language models like artificial intelligence and put effective regulations in place is sadly unrealistic.”
Feezell warned about potential impacts on elections if misinformation campaigns gain traction among voters: “If people look at misinformation or disinformation campaigns and believe it and run with it in an election, it could have an impact. I think everything matters in close elections."
She encourages individuals to engage with politically uncomfortable content for broader perspectives.