British Home Secretary James Cleverly has expressed concern that criminal organisations and foreign-linked political groups could use AI-generated “deep faces” to manipulate general elections around the world.
Deepfake technology (AI technology that fakes faces, images, and voices) uses the power of deep learning technology on video, audio, and image content. When used properly, it can create new content that never existed but is convincing to people.
Secretary Cleverly said the rapid advancement of technology could pose a serious threat to elections around the world.
He warned that criminal organizations or political groups could create thousands of deepfakes – highly realistic fake images and videos – to manipulate democratic processes in countries like the UK.
“The era of deepfake and AI-generated content to deceive and disrupt has begun,” Mr Cleverly told the Times.
It is estimated that 2 billion people around the world will vote in national elections throughout 2024, including the UK, US, India and 60 other countries.
Several deepfake audio imitating British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and London mayor Sadiq Khan were shared online in 2023.
During the recent Munich Security Conference, leaders of the world's leading technology companies such as Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and TikTok signed an agreement to prevent fake political content generated by AI.