A man views a computer screen displaying the AI-crafted speech of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, to call for votes ahead of the general elections in Karachi, Pakistan, in early February 2024.
The British nonprofit used Midjourney, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Stability.ai's DreamStudio, and Microsoft's Image Creator for testing in February, simply tying in different text prompts related to the US elections. The group was able to bypass the tools’ protections a whopping 41% of the time.
Some of the images they created showed Donald Trump being taken away in handcuffs, Trump on a plane with alleged pedophile and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and Joe Biden in a hospital bed.
Generative AI is already playing a tangible role in political campaigns, especially as voters go to the polls for national elections in 64 different countries this year. AI has been used to help a former prime minister get his message out from prison in Pakistan, to turn a hardened defense minister into a cuddly character in Indonesia, and to impersonate US President Biden in New Hampshire. Protections that fail nearly half the time just won’t cut it. With regulation lagging behind the pace of technology, AI companies have made voluntary commitments to prevent the creation and spread of election-related AI media.
“All of these tools are vulnerable to people attempting to generate images that could be used to support claims of a stolen election or could be used to discourage people from going to polling places," CCDH’s Callum Hood told the BBC. “If there is will on the part of the AI companies, they can introduce safeguards that work.”
In his latest “ask ian," Ian Bremmer examines US–Iran tensions, as President Trump signals possible military strikes but repeatedly pulls back amid regional pressure and limited strategic options.
The WHO has declared the current epidemic of Ebola virus, that has killed over 90 people, in the DRC and Uganda a public health emergency but has not categorized the outbreak as a pandemic yet.
The Iran war has had a ripple effect on the global economy and international relations way beyond the Middle East. Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute joins Ian Bremmer to discuss how the conflict is redrawing power for the US, Russia, China, and America's allies.
Three months into the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz is in a standoff and the geopolitical fallout is spreading fast. Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute breaks down with Ian Bremmer what the conflict means for US power and the ambitions of Russia and China.