Dem
51
GOP
49
Democrats are worried silly about a tsunami of fake AI-generated content flooding the airwaves and the Internet in 2024. AI could produce plausible-sounding misinformation and disinformation at an unprecedented rate this year and next. The problem is that bad actors will be able to produce false, but seemingly real, content very easily and flood the zone with it. It will be impossible to stop. And it is well known that lies can travel around the world three times before the truth has gotten its boots on.
In addition to false news stories, there is the problem of deep fakes, both photos and videos. People can be shown in situations they were never in and in videos, people can appear to say things they never said. Congress could pass a law requiring AI-produced content to be labeled as AI produced, but this Congress is certainly not going to do that.
Fundamentally, AI doesn't change anything. Campaigns have always produced attack ads in various forms. Only now they are cheap and easy to produce very quickly. That means there is going to be much more of it. In particular, presidential campaigns have always had the resources to do this, but now even candidates for state Senates and state Houses can start easily producing fake ads full of lies.
The advance of AI probably helps the Republicans more than it helps the Democrats because some well-known Republican politicians lie all the time about everything and have no problem putting out fake ads. The new technology makes this easier and cheaper than ever before. Democrats don't depend on lies as much as Republicans, and some of them view putting out lies as immoral and unacceptable. This puts them at a disadvantage when the ability to generate fake content has become easily available. They know this and this is why they are worried. (V)