The Growing Influence of Deepfakes on the Political Landscape

Over the past year, AI, or artificial intelligence, has grown exponentially, its capacity and capabilities expanding at a swift rate. From Apple to Grammarly, the power of AI is constantly being harnessed to broaden and improve the means of many corporations. However, harness does not necessarily equal tame.

The potential of AI, similar to a hurricane miles offshore, is hard to read, the possible damages not fully comprehensible. An aspect of this ambiguous storm is the "deepfake," an artificially generated video or image, often made through malicious intent, to misrepresent and manipulate the words and actions of someone. Whether it be an impression of Barack Obama or an impersonation of Tom Cruise, deepfakes can be severely consequential, damaging the trust of civilians and pushing us into a world in which it is hard to distinguish between what is real and what is fake.

How Deepfakes Work

Deepfakes, similar to the human mind, are complex and its learning capacity is determined by a computer program known as a "neural network." This neural network performs in the same way a child learns to write or draw. The nodes in the network act as neurons, and in turn, transform real images/videos into fakes by "learning" about the given image. The deeper the network, the better the fake.

There's another aspect to the process of creating complex deepfakes and this is a sort of "guess and check" method. In short, one program produces fakes and another "checks" them, determining whether or not the given image is fabricated. This system has become incredibly advanced, and the images produced often pass the human rationality check, making deepfakes a cause for concern.

Impact on Politics

Artificial Intelligence has altered the global political landscape enormously, especially in nations where the democratic process is critical to the preservation of the country as a whole. In America, many citizens already doubt the integrity of elections, and with the addition of deepfakes and misleading artificial intelligence, the nation seems to be on the brink of an informational crisis.

According to Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C, 50% of Americans at least sometimes obtain news on social media and 69% of Americans at least rarely use social media as a news outlet. As social media penetration expands, those looking to exploit the American public and promote their own personal ideologies through malicious misinformation are finding an ever growing market.

The Threat to Democracy

When the truth becomes hard to discern, heavy polarization of politics brews. As one side believes something is true while the other vehemently disagrees, we find ourselves at a growing rift between political ideologies, and often experience more and more radicalism. If Americans continue down a path of continual consumption of misinformation, we will soon find ourselves in a dysfunctional society in which truth is no longer a valued virtue. Rather, ideology will become the determination of good or bad and real or fake.

Solutions

Is there a way to fix this issue? Well, no. You can't magically stop another human's desire to spread a certain ideology. However what we can do is develop software that can be used on all platforms that is able to determine the authenticity of a video, image, or voice instantaneously. We are still in the early stages of AI development, so as deepfakes develop, so will the technology to police them.

Additionally, American citizens can scroll with caution. It can be easy to believe everything you see, accepting every news article at face value. However, this can have ill consequences such as falling victim to misinformation. Citizens must browse the internet with a continual skepticism, not coming to conclusions until the entire picture of a story has been painted. There is no need to be scared, it's not like the world is ending. However, it is important to stay aware. Truth is not relative.