AI may have just influenced Argentina’s election
A reader reports from Argentina
The moment we have all feared may have finally come:
I am not up on the details, and am pressed for time, but share this letter from a reader Argentina. His question is a good one.
It's Luis, your reader from Argentina.
We held elections yesterday. And last Friday, an AI-generated video of an ex-president endorsing a certain candidate began circulating (On X, of course!) and might have had an effect on the race.
https://www-lanacion-com-ar.translate.goog/opinion/la-democracia-muere-cuando-no-sabemos-que-es-verdad-nid19052025/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=es-419&_x_tr_pto=wapp → Here's a translated version of the news.So my point here is: Who's held accountable for this? AI companies have been stealing copyrighted material and the likeness of former presidents... for what? So that anyone can risk democracy?
Because I never signed up for that.
Who indeed will pay the price if GenAI destroys democracy? Who will be held accountable?
I see no future where deep fakes aren’t playing a significant role in elections. They will only get better and more sophisticated. It’s so disheartening.
"Who indeed will pay the price if GenAI destroys democracy? Who will be held accountable?"
No one will be held accountable. We have spent decades creating an unaccountable society, where democracy means what the highest bidder wants. I don't know if it's too late to look for ways to bring accountability into our world. But the answer is not confined to within the AI, or even, tech worlds. It is a systematic failure, and will require all to join together to bring accountability into being. And that will include stopping what's behind its absence in the first place.
Do we even know how to begin?