Joe Biden’s voice urging thousands of voters in New Hampshire not to vote in the primaries. Pictures of Donald Trump showing him surrounded by black supporters. What do both cases have in common? They are fakes created by artificial intelligence (AI). Due to the rapid development of AI, such fakes can be fabricated with less and less effort and expertise and at the same time it is becoming increasingly difficult to recognise artificially generated content as such.
Particularly in the run-up to important elections, such as those due to be held in the USA in 2024 and in many other places, AI can make a massive contribution to the spread of disinformation and simplify the manipulation of opinion-forming processes. How exactly is AI already being used in politics and in election campaigns and what future developments are on the horizon? What impact does the spread of disinformation and conspiracy narratives have on democracy? How can the danger of AI-generated misinformation be contained and what can we all do to avoid falling for fakes?
Prof. Christoph Bieber took part in the panel discussion with US Consul General Pauline A. Kao and Marlin Mayer, PhD student and expert in conspiracy theories at the Bergische VHS in Wuppertal on 23 April 2024.