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AI & election security
With an estimated 4 billion people—almost half the world’s population—set to vote or have already voted in the 2024 elections, AI's influence has been minimal so far, but its potential impact looms large. Ginny Badanes, general manager of Democracy Forward at Microsoft, explained that while AI-driven disruptions like deep fake videos and robocalls haven't altered results yet, they have undermined public trust.
“I think people are becoming more and more aware of the fact that AI could be a disruptor in the elections, which I actually think is a positive thing. However, it does have the downside effect of people are starting to question what they're looking at and wondering if they can trust what they see.”
Badanes sat with GZERO’s Tony Maciulis to discuss how AI has yet to change election outcomes. Continuous efforts from both the tech industry and governments are crucial to safeguarding future elections.
How AI threatens elections
According to a new report from Ginny Badanes of Microsoft’s Democracy Forward Initiative, two billion people will have the opportunity to vote in national elections over the next 14 months. So many elections in multiple consequential countries promise authoritarians who want to degrade democracy are gearing up to launch cyberattacks to destabilize and spread doubt in the free world.
And artificial intelligence makes the threat more severe than ever before. “We are in a moment where a new technology is emerging — generative AI — and there are a lot of concerns about what that is going to mean, particularly for information operations.”
She spoke with Tony Maciulis at the 2023 Paris Peace Forum, where GZERO also hosted a Global Stage event, Live from the Paris Peace Forum: Embracing technology to protect democracy.
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Stop misinformation blame game — let's do something about it
Who's most responsible for spreading misinformation online? For Ginny Badanes, senior director for Democracy Forward at Microsoft, the problem starts with those who create it, yet ultimately governments, companies and individuals all share the burden. And she's more interested in what we can do to respond.
Ginny Badanes spoke at a live Global Stage event, Infodemic: defending democracy from disinformation. Watch the full event here: https://www.gzeromedia.com/global-stage/virtual-events/disinformation-is-a-big-problem-what-can-we-do-about-it