Deadly disruptions; The deceptive use of AI tools poses

Lokmat News Network

India’s national elections are over. But the latest report by OpenAI titled “AI and Covert Influence Operations: Latest Trends,” should be a cause for concern for not only India but democracies all over the world. According to it, during the election period, India witnessed a rising use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to impact the nature of political campaigns and amplify voter engagement. Many candidates are reported to have used AI-powered ‘avatars’ to engage with individual citizens in an electorate with 968 million registered voters. The two biggest national-level parties — the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress Party— accused each other of unfairly influencing voters by spreading ‘fake news’ through ‘deepfakes,’ or digitally manipulated audio, images, or video. From the days of the good old paper ballot to use of electronic voting machines, the electoral process has witnessed welcome use of technological advancements like the electronic voting machine to deepen democracy. The misuse of AI tools underlines the threats they pose.

A more sinister aspect of the AI report is that some of these covert operations seemed to emanate from foreign countries such Russia, China and Israel. While the Election Commission issued an advisory to political parties on May 6 warning against AI-generated deepfakes, the government’s generally hands-off approach to regulating the AI landscape left it powerless. While the OpenAI report mentions that the ChatGPT founded by it tried to stop damage, the combination of social media with AI, with forces waiting to misuse them along with deepfakes, made its task difficult. In a country like India where social media platforms like WhatsApp and X have for long been misused to force political narratives, spread hate and disseminate fake news, the deceptive use of AI requires to be seen with concern and tackled with urgency.

While the technology enables parties to widen their outreach to more voters, it also raises concerns about its misuse to spread disinformation — a concern prompted by a surge in AI-generated synthetic media. With political parties now adding a new tribe called social media warriors, some operating ‘IT Cells’ to target political foes and running ‘WhatsApp universities’, what OpenAI revealed could be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg that is dangerously inching nearer to India’s democratic system. While there is no reliable data yet on whether AI tools are disrupting the integrity of democratic processes, India's election may portend future trends, especially given its size, scale, and digital exposure. Stringent regulations are needed to tackle the gross abuse of AI-powered tools. At the stake is the future of democracy itself.