SAO PAULO, Brazil: AI-generated videos and photos used for political disinformation have been the bane of a busy global election year, with Brazil rushing to regulate the technology ahead of municipal elections.
Last week, authorities in Brazil, a country of 203 million people with more cellphones than people, banned the use of deepfake technology and set guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence for electoral purposes.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence, accelerated by the release of ChatGPT in 2022, has shaken the online landscape and sparked fears about the future of technology.
In a video making the rounds on social media in Brazil, Anitta, the country’s biggest pop star, and soccer icon Neymar are seen promoting an online gambling scheme, or rather, super celebrity deepfakes.
But in a country heavily affected by political misinformation, authorities are especially concerned about incidents like the one where a mayor’s voice was used to create an offensive audio file for a local government teacher and shared on social media. Similar cases are pending in two other states.
The Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has decided to take action. Last week, the use of deepfake technology in local election campaigns in October was officially banned.
Any use of other types of artificial intelligence for electoral purposes must be accompanied by a clearly identifiable notice to the public.
Candidates who use deepfake technology in their campaigns may be barred from running or have their privileges revoked if elected.
Alexandre de Moraes, head of the TSE, said these were some of the world’s most modern standards to combat disinformation, fake news and the abuse of artificial intelligence.
He warned that deepfake technology could change the outcome of the election.
In Brazil, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been banned from holding office until 2030 due to unsubstantiated allegations of abuse of power and media abuse.
The fact is that humanity is becoming a victim of algorithms… and being manipulated by artificial intelligence, in a way that has never been seen in history, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said last week in a TV interview.
Lula defeated Bolsonaro by a razor-thin margin in 2022 polls that bitterly divided the nation, and the October municipal elections will be a crucial litmus test of his popularity.
American experts are also wary of deepfake technology. Opponents of President Joe Biden recently released an AI-generated call using a voice similar to President Biden’s, urging people not to vote in the primaries.
The nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) Wednesday warned that several generative AI tools continue to allow the creation of deceptive images related to political candidates and voting.
Last month, 20 digital giants including Meta, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, TikTok and X joined together in a pledge to fight AI content designed to mislead voters.
They promised to use the technology to combat potentially harmful AI content, such as watermarks that are invisible to the human eye but can be recognized by machines.
