For months, the U.S. intelligence community has warned of foreign election influence campaigns using artificial intelligence to create content intended to sway the November presidential election.
This week, reports circulated that Iran attempted to infiltrate the Harris and Trump campaigns. To find out how AI could supercharge the foreign interference problem, the Scripps News Disinformation Desk turned to a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public on just how extraordinary — and dangerous — AI can really be.
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CivAI produces interactive AI software that can be used to illustrate everything from highly personalized email phishing scams to deepfake audio recordings. They've provided these kinds of educational tools to everyone from the Arizona Secretary of State's office to AARP.
The company's cofounder, Lucas Hansen, came to the Scripps News office for a very personal demonstration. Using just one picture from Scripps News National Correspondent Liz Landers' LinkedIn account, Hansen was able to create multiple deepfake images of Landers in seconds.
One of them showed Landers behind bars in an orange jumpsuit, while another featured her holding a gun. And with just 30 seconds of Landers speaking from an online video, Hansen was able to produce an uncanny replica of her voice saying whatever he wanted.
After Landers told Hansen her hometown was Tallahassee, Florida, Hansen demonstrated one election situation that he's particularly worried about: voter turnout manipulation.
Hansen created a fake headline from a real local news outlet, which stated that there was a shooter spotted near Tallahassee polling locations. The article was posted on what looked to be the outlet's official twitter account, which told residents voting would instead take place the following day.
"When we are showing these phishing emails and the deepfake images and the audio, when people are consuming content, they have to know that maybe that isn't real, and ideally, they can see some of the tells," Hansen said. "Unlike previous technologies, where it's one innovation that happens, with AI, we're going to see new innovations happen over and over and over again, which is kind of incredible."
Hansen said that for most people, emerging technology like AI can feel distant and theoretical. But his job is to show the public that artificial intelligence is here now and it's not just another overhyped tech threat — and in this case, it's powerful technology that could even shape the outcome of an election.
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