Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

AI vs. truth: Battling deepfakes amid 2024 elections

With nearly half of the globe heading to the polls this year amid lightning-speed developments in generative AI, fears are running rampant over tech-driven disinformation campaigns.

During a Global Stage panel at the Munich Security Conference, Bulgarian politician and European Parliament member Eva Maydell said she fears we will soon be unable to separate fact from deepfake fiction.


While acknowledging the important developments AI and emerging tech offer, Maydell warned that we also “need to be very sober” about how they are threatening the “very fabric of our democratic societies” and eroding trust.

While the EU is trying to push voluntary measures and legislative proposals, Maydell points out that political conversations often revolve around the sense that “we'll probably never be as good as those that are trying to deceive society.”

“But you still have to give it a try, and you need to do it in a very prepared way,” she adds.


Watch the full conversation: How to protect elections in the age of AI

Watch more Global Stage coverage on the 2024 Munich Security Conference.

More from Global Stage

Can we use AI to secure the world's digital future?

How do we ensure AI is safe, available to everyone, and enhancing productivity? It’s a big topic at this year’s UN General Assembly. That’s why GZERO’s Global Stage livestream brought together leading experts at the heart of the action for “Live from the United Nations: Securing our Digital Future,” an event produced in partnership between the Complex Risk Analytics Fund, or CRAF’d, and GZERO Media’s Global Stage series, sponsored by Microsoft.

Is the Europe-US rift leaving us all vulnerable?

As the tense and politically charged 2025 Munich Security Conference draws to a close, GZERO’s Global Stage series presents a conversation about strained relationships between the US and Europe, Ukraine's path ahead, and rising threats in cyberspace.

Gender gap in AI job displacement

Who benefits from AI and who is left behind? Speaking at the United Nations, Sarah Steinberg highlighted the disproportionate impact of AI on women in the workforce. One in three women works in a job "likely to be disrupted or significantly changed by AI compared to one in four men globally,” Steinberg said. At the same time, women account for only a third of those building AI skills, creating a skills gap that could limit access to emerging jobs.

How can AI improve everyday life for citizens?

How can artificial intelligence improve everyday life for citizens? Speaking at the United Nations, Parvathaneni Harish highlighted India’s approach to digital public infrastructure. “Today in India, the cost of access to internet is the lowest in the world… and data usage per capita is one of the highest,” he said.

Preparing the workforce for AI

How will artificial intelligence reshape the global workforce, and who will be ready for it? Speaking at the United Nations, Doreen Bogdan-Martin said the rapid growth of AI will transform jobs worldwide, making large-scale workforce training essential. “We’ve seen estimates that 170 million new jobs will be created; maybe 90 million jobs will be lost,” she said. “So how do we ensure that we’re prepared?”

Expanding AI access worldwide

Could AI deepen global inequality or help close the gap? Lisa Monaco, President of Global Affairs, Microsoft, says it all comes down to trust. She argues that “people won’t use technology that they don’t trust,” especially as geopolitical tensions raise concerns about the reliability and resilience of digital infrastructure.