Threat of Deepfakes and AI Is Overblown, Studies Show
The ability to create deep fakes and fake news through the use of AI is a major threat to democracy, say many experts. “AI-generated images and videos have triggered a panic among researchers, politicians and even some tech workers who warn that fabricated photos and videos could mislead voters, in what a U.N. AI adviser called in one interview the ‘deepfake election,” reported the Washington Post late last month. “The concerns have pushed regulators into action. Leading tech companies recently promised the White House they would develop tools to allow users to detect whether media is made by AI." These claims are often supported by studies arguing that human ability to accurately detect AI generated content hovers around 50%.
But the threat of AI to elections today is as overblown as the threat of Russian disinformation to elections in 2020. Never before has the U.S. been better prepared to detect deep fakes and fake news than we are today. Studies show that humans can learn to reasonably detect human versus computer-generated content with sufficiency, such that outside intervention is not required.
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