In its submission to the Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has raised several concerns over AI manipulation of global electoral events and its own lack of powers to investigate potential contraventions.
The AEC questioned the impact AI already has and could have in the future on the integrity of federal elections, citing several examples around the world in which AI has been used to influence or manipulate citizen trust and the outcome of elections.
“Prior to the US New Hampshire presidential primary in January this year, a robocall, reported to have likely used AI voice cloning technology impersonating US President Joe Biden, urged voters to skip the primary election,” the submission said.
“In Pakistan, jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed party election victory in a video created using AI. In India, an AI-generated video of deceased former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, and icon in Indian cinema M Karunanidhi, praised the leadership of his son and current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister ahead of elections in May.
“Prior to the February Indonesian election, a deepfake of deceased former President Suharto circulated, endorsing his former political party. Also in Indonesia, AI has been used by candidates in their speechwriting, artwork and campaign materials. Ahead of the South Korean election in April, it is reported that the National Election Commission detected 388 pieces of AI-generated media content, in violation of their newly revised election law, banning the use of political campaign videos using AI-generated deepfakes within 90 days prior to an election.”
The AEC noted the Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections was signed by several technology companies at the Munich Security Conference in support of “preventing deceptive AI content from interfering with this year’s global elections”. However, the statutory authority admitted it was distressed about “the current lack of potential legislative tools and internal technical capabilities to enable us to detect, evaluate and respond to information manipulation about the electoral process generated by that technology”.
The AEC has only two sections under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Electoral Act) with which it has the power to investigate or take action on any infringements, with section 321D requiring the communication of electoral matter to be authorised and section 329 forbidding content that is communicated during an election period and is likely to mislead or deceive an elector in relation to the casting of a vote.
“The AEC is doing what we can to continue to monitor developments with this new and emerging threat including considering how the AEC’s current legislative powers may potentially apply. In addition to examining our own internal understanding of contemporary developments, the AEC is seeking specific briefings from industry and government,” the commission wrote in its submission.
“Additionally, the AEC has been working to further expand our pre- and debunking initiatives as part of our broader campaign to combat disinformation. The AEC’s ‘Stop and Consider’ advertising campaign aims to increase public awareness of how to counter disinformation and encourages voters to check the source of electoral information, while reminding them to consider if the information they are consuming is current and reliable.
“The AEC also has a disinformation register that lists prominent pieces of disinformation regarding the election process for each federal electoral event.”
