October Topic: AI Endangers Elections
Please note the time of this event per time zone:
5 p.m. EDT // 4 p.m. CDT // 3 p.m. MDT // 2 p.m. PDT // 1 p.m. AKDT
Presented in partnership with the League of Women Voters of Alaska
Every election cycle, candidates, PACs, and outside spending groups spend billions of dollars to create and disseminate political ads that seek to influence voters and electoral results. Voters must be able to evaluate the reliability and credibility of these ads to meaningfully participate in the democratic process. Recently, some have begun to use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate “deepfake” visual or audio content in political ads, and this raises serious concerns for our elections going forward. What federal reforms could protect our elections?
The Senate Rules Committee recently held a hearing on “AI and the Future of our Elections.” Our friends at the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) were there.
Our guest is Saurav Ghosh, who serves as the Director of Federal Campaign Finance Reform for CLC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that strives to advance democracy through law. Saurav leads CLC’s efforts to uncover campaign finance violations, file complaints seeking administrative enforcement, and pursue legislative and regulatory reforms to strengthen and ensure the consistent and robust enforcement of federal campaign finance laws.
Suggested reading: CLC's Congressional Testimony on AI and the Future of Elections
About the series:
Disinformation. Conspiracy theories. Extremism. Surveillance. Our democracy is threatened as never before by toxic online content. The social media giants seem unable, or in some cases unwilling, to control the flood of lies and manipulative practices. The staggering — often hidden — reach of Big Tech into our lives endangers civil society, our civil rights, and our privacy. In a "post-truth" world we risk losing the shared understanding that underpins our democracy.
Each month, we explore a different facet of this crisis with guest experts. Join us to learn, discuss, and work on possible solutions.