Election overhaul must include AI advertising, politicos say

Canada must revise its election rules and the use of artificial intelligence must not be overlooked when making changes, several MPs told The Wire Report. The issue of AI-generated advertising has come to the fore in the United States. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has released ads that purport to show former president Donald Trump embracing Dr. Anthony Fauci, former immunology advisor to the White House. The incident never occurred in real life. New York representative Yvette Clarke has introduced a bill that would require political campaigns to reveal when they use AI material, just as candidates must state they approved the contents of the advertisement. Canadian politicians say it is time to bring that idea north of the border. “I’ve been distorted with clips taken on video where clips of what I’ve said are cut up and people are fooled by it,” Green Party leader Elizabeth May said in a telephone interview. “But that’s just easy cut-and-paste compared to what they can do with artificial intelligence.” She notes that some jurisdictions, such as Brazil and the United Kingdom, have outlawed political advertising on electronic media during campaigns. She urges a similar move here. “The Greens’ view is that we shouldn’t have any political ads on television or radio. That would deal with the AI problem,” she asserted. Her colleague Brian Masse of the New Democratic Party is also sounding the alarm about the dangers of the new technology. “AI is going to change some of the repertoires of communicating and unfortunately they can also be very abusive,” he stated. AI advertising should be part of a general overhaul of the election process, the Windsor, Ont. MP believes. “First of all we need electoral reform in general. So there’s that as a wider umbrella of things we need to do with modernization of our voting process, age of voting and even information,” Masse said. Political parties have used questionable tactics in the past, the NDP member said, pointing to a Progressive Conservative ad during the 1993 election that mocked Liberal leader Jean Chrétien’s facial deformities. Giving parties AI tools can only worsen an already toxic situation, the MP claimed. Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, his party’s co-chair on the non-partisan caucus on new technologies, said he was not familiar with the proposed American legislation but endorsed the sentiments behind it. “We need to protect our political advertising,” he told The Wire Report in an interview. Efforts to reach the Conservative co-chair of the caucus, Alberta’s Michelle Rempel-Garner, were unsuccessful. Elections Canada says it has a few tools to combat false advertising but AI will change the playing field. It is up to members of Parliament to revise the Election Act to bring it in line with updated technology, the agency stated. The state of Michigan passed a bill last month that would set a $250 fine for failing to disclose the use of AI in political advertising. Subsequent violations of the act would incur fines of $1000. Using “deepfakes” to generate images that did not happen in real life would face even more serious penalties. A first offense would result in a fine of $500 and up to 90 days in jail. Later offenses would be subject to a $1000 fine and a prison term of up to five years. In October Meta Platforms Inc. announced it was reviewing an altered video which suggested president Joe Biden is a pedophile. Amazon Inc. voice assistant Alexa has been claiming Biden stole the 2020 election. Google Inc. said in September that it will require politicians to reveal when they use AI. The Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C. is studying the use of AI in political ads. An Axios poll last summer found that 35 per cent of Americans said AI will decrease their trust in election advertising. The use of the new technology is not limited to North America. Reuters reported this week that the party of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, which is not allowed to hold rallies, used an AI-generated version of Khan’s voice to speak to supporters. The party leader is currently in prison and wrote the script for the remarks. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Election overhaul must include AI advertising, politicos say

News | December 18, 2023

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Election overhaul must include AI advertising, politicos say

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