AI is already permeating politics — and it's time to put rules in place, experts say
But it can also be leveraged in much more subtle ways. Without any rules in place, we won't know the full extent to which it's being put to use, says the author of a new report.
"We are still in the early days, and we're in this weird period where there aren't rules about disclosure about AI, and there also aren't norms yet about disclosure around uses of generative AI," says University of Ottawa professor Elizabeth Dubois.
"We don't necessarily know everything that's happening."
In a report released Wednesday, Dubois outlines ways in which AI is being employed in both Canada and the U.S. — for polling, predicting election results, helping prepare lobbying strategies and detecting abusive social-media posts during campaigns.
Generative AI, or technology that can create text, images and videos, hit the mainstream with the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022.
Many Canadians are already using the technology in their everyday lives, and it is also being used to create political content, such as campaign materials. In the United States last year, the Republican Party released its first AI-generated attack ad.
Sometimes it's obvious that AI has been used, like with the three-armed woman.
When the Alberta Party shared a video of a man's endorsement online in January 2023, people on social media quickly pointed out he wasn't a real person, says the report. It was deleted.
But if the content looks real, Dubois says that can be hard to trace.
The lack of established rules and norms on AI use and disclosure is a "real problem," she says.
"If we don't know what's happening, then we can't make sure it's happening in a way that supports fair elections and strong democracies, right?"
Nestor Maslej, a research manager at Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, agrees that's a "completely valid concern."
One way AI could do real harm in elections is through deepfake videos.
Deepfakes, or fake videos that make it look like a celebrity or public figure is saying something they're not, have been around for years.
Maslej cites high-profile examples of fake videos of former U.S. president Barack Obama saying disparaging things, and a false video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surrendering to Russia.
Those examples "occurred in the past when the technology wasn't as good and wasn’t as capable, but the technology is only going to continue getting better," he says.
Maslej says the technology is progressing quickly, and newer versions of generative AI are making it more difficult to tell whether images or videos are fake.
There's also evidence that humans struggle to identify synthetically generated audio, he notes.
"Deepfake voices (are) something that has tended to trip up a lot of humans before."
It's not to suggest that AI can't be used in a responsible way, Maslej points out, but it can also be used in election campaigns for malicious purposes.
Research shows "it’s relatively easy and not that expensive to set up AI disinformation pipelines," he says.
Not all voters are equally vulnerable.
Individuals who aren’t as familiar with these types of technologies are likely to be "much more susceptible to being confused and taking something that is in fact false as being real," Maslej notes.
One way to put in place some guardrails is with watermarking technology, he says. It automatically marks AI-generated content as such so people don't mistake it as real.
No matter the solution that policymakers decide upon, "the time to act is now," Maslej says.
"It does seem to me that the mood in Canadian politics has sometimes become a bit more more tricky and adversarial, but you would hope there is a still an understanding among all participants that something like AI disinformation can create a worse atmosphere for everybody."
It’s time to have government agencies identify the risks and harms that AI can pose in the electoral processes, he says.
"If we wait for there to be, I don't know, some kind of deepfake of (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau that causes the Liberals to lose the election, then I think we’re going to open a very nasty can of political worms."
Some malicious uses of AI are already covered by existing law in Canada, Dubois says.
The use of deepfake videos to impersonate a candidate, for instance, is already illegal under elections law.
"On the other hand, there are potential uses that are novel or that will not clearly fit within the bounds of existing rules," she says.
"And so there, it really has to be a kind of case-by-case basis, initially, until we figure out the bounds of how these tools might get used."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2024.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Tensions run high on the Hill as MPs debate second Conservative motion of non-confidence
Members of Parliament debated the second Conservative motion of non-confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government of the week on Thursday, amid simmering tensions.
WATCH LIVE Helene strengthens to a Category 4 hurricane as it nears Florida's Gulf Coast
Helene strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane hours ahead of its expected landfall on Florida's northwest coast Thursday night, and forecasters warned that the enormous storm could create a 'nightmare' surge in coastal areas and bring dangerous winds and rain across much of the southeastern U.S.
Canadian singer K'naan has been charged with sexual assault after being arrested by police in Quebec City.
Cold case arrest: Nunavut RCMP charge man with murder in 1986 death of teenage girl
Mounties in Nunavut have made an arrest in the murder of a 15-year-old girl almost 40 years ago.
An Air Canada flight headed to Toronto from Frankfurt diverted to Edinburgh due to an emergency Thursday, the airline says.
Scammers are increasingly using emails to extort money from victims by threatening to reveal compromising photos, videos and personal information to their friends and family members, according to a new warning from Mounties in Metro Vancouver.
A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.
Montana man arrested for intentionally running a motorcycle off the road and killing the driver
A Montana man has been arrested after witnesses said he intentionally and repeatedly swerved his car at three motorcycles in south-central Montana, running one off the road and killing its driver, officials in Carbon County said.
Alabama puts man convicted of killing 3 to death in the country's second nitrogen gas execution
Alabama used nitrogen gas Thursday to execute a man convicted of killing three people in back-to-back workplace shootings, the second time the method that has generated debate about its humaneness has been used in the country
Local Spotlight
A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.
Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.
Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.
A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.
An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.
Fire has destroyed a barn and 17,000 plants at a family-owned business in Lower Coverdale, N.B.
Before influencers on social media, Canada’s Jeanne Beker was bringing the world of high fashion down to earth and as Calgary’s Glenbow Museum gets a major make-over, it will include a new exhibition showcasing the pop culture icon.