Tech Giants pledge to combat deceptive AI use in elections

Twenty leading technology companies, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, TikTok, X, Amazon and Adobe vowed Friday to help prevent deceptive uses of artificial intelligence from interfering with global elections.

In 2024, 4 billion people in over 40 countries around the World voted and experts say easily accessible generative Artificial Inteligence tools fell into the hands of bad actors that could potentially impact those elections and sway votes.

The generative AI tools allow users to create images, videos, or audio from simple text prompts, some do not have the necessary safeguards in place to prevent users from creating content of politicians or celebrities saying things they've never said or doing things they've never done.

Some of those commitments include detecting the distribution of this content on their platforms along with developing and implementing technology to mitigate risks related to deceptive AI content.

In a joint statement, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Lindsey Graham said this is a constructive step forward.

They appreciated the companies involved for stepping up to the plate, and time will tell how effective these steps are if further action is needed,

They further says that we all have a role to play in protecting the integrity of our elections and upholding the democratic process, and we welcome this critical step by technology companies.

Executive Vice President of Public Citizen which is a non-profit organisation that is been advocating for the legislation of political and explicit deepfakes, Lisa Gilbert says they are happy to see these companies taking steps to voluntarily rein in what are likely to be some of the worst abuses. Committing to self-police will help, but it's not enough.

She says the AI companies must commit to holding back technology, especially text-to-video that presents election risks until there are substantial and adequate safeguards in place to help avert many potential problems.

This is a constructive step forward and those companies involved are acknowledged for stepping up to the plate time will tell how effective these steps are, if further action is needed, we all have a role to play in protecting the integrity of our elections and upholding the democratic process, and welcome this critical step by technology companies.

Source: ABC News