USA (Washington Insider Magazine) —In a recent Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) warned of a “deluge of deception” poised to distort the 2024 election through AI-generated deepfakes. These manipulated images, voices, and videos pose a unique threat to democracy, he cautioned, capable of covertly undermining elections on a scale far beyond past attempts.
Blumenthal highlighted how AI-fueled misinformation, like a robocall using a fake President Biden voice urging voters to skip a primary, has already surfaced. This incident represents the first known deepfake voter suppression attempt, according to The Associated Press.
To address this bipartisan threat, a coalition of Senators — including Amy Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Josh Hawley, and Susan Collins — introduced the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act in September. This bill would ban deceptive AI in political ads and empower candidates to seek legal action against malicious deepfake content. However, as Hawley noted, swift legislative action is crucial to prevent an “electoral disaster.”
In a broader context, deepfakes have emerged as tools to spread disinformation, often exacerbated by the decline in local journalism, which reduces fact-checking resources. Blumenthal and other experts, like Zohaib Ahmed of Resemble AI, proposed measures including a public database and digital watermarking to verify content authenticity.
Despite efforts, the World Economic Forum reports a staggering 900% increase in deepfake content from 2019 to 2020. As Klobuchar stressed, decisive action cannot wait.
