Political campaigns aim to persuade voters to support a party or candidate. But what happens if AI is used as a tool to impact the promotion of the campaign or its results? This blog examines the growing role of AI in elections, focusing on its benefits, challenges, and ethical concerns.

 

Leveraging AI for Electoral Campaigns: Enhanced Voter Engagement

As stated in UNESCO’s Guide for Electoral Practitioners, AI has the ability to enhance the effectiveness and precision of elections. This is due to the fact that AI is revolutionising political campaigns by making voter engagement more personalised and accessible than ever before. Imagine a chatbot answering your questions in real-time about where to vote, what candidates stand for, and how the process works — there would be no more confusion or waiting in line for answers. Undeniably, this makes the electoral process more accessible and transparent. Moreover, by analysing a vast amount of data, AI allows campaigns to better understand the concerns, interests and preferences of individual voters. Thus, campaigns can send tailored messages and build stronger connections between candidates and voters, which can boost voter turnout and create a more engaged electorate. As such, AI is not just about improving efficiency, but also about making the democratic process more engaging, inclusive, and accessible for all.

 

Harnessing AI for Data Management and Cybersecurity in Electoral Campaigns
AI is revolutionising election security, making the process smoother and more secure than ever before. When applied effectively, AI can revolutionise the handling of electoral data by improving its collection, storage, and analysis, which enables officials to make quicker decisions and identify emerging trends with greater precision. Consequently, this technology significantly reduces human error, leading to faster and more reliable results. But AI does not just make things run more smoothly; it is also a powerful tool for cybersecurity. In fact, it helps detect unusual activity and fraudulent behaviour, protecting the integrity of election infrastructure. Moreover, by automating routine tasks, AI allows cybersecurity teams to focus on more complex threats, improving efficiency across the board. Therefore, instead of arguing against the use of AI during electoral campaigns, election officials should be allowed and encouraged to integrate AI into their strategies.

 

Challenges and risks: AI-driven misinformation

Despite all the undeniable opportunities that AI brings to the table, we cannot overlook the risks that follow this phenomenon. The very fundamentals of democracy are being threatened by various malicious uses of AI, leading to experts debating whether a democratic system is compatible with artificial intelligence. Techniques like nudging, dark patterns and deepfakes are just some of the many examples of such malpractices. Princeton University’s Centre for Information Technology Policy estimated that various types of dark patterns sent to potential voters in the form of electronic mail caused at least $20 million to be unintentionally donated during the 2020 US presidential campaign. These dark patterns are “deceptive tricks” that force a user into acting in a certain way online. By increased personalisation, AI can enhance the effectiveness of this approach. Another controversial method of persuasion that is underlined through the use of AI is nudging. According to Thaler and Sunstein, nudging is “ any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. The 2016 Brexit referendum and Trump’s presidential campaign witnessed a milestone in the misuse of personal data by Cambridge Analytica, which crafted personalised content to persuade voters. Lastly, the most distinct measure is that of deepfakes, which are videos or audio recordings of specific persons altered to falsely appear as real ones. Getting gradually more accessible, it allows politicians to effectively discredit their opponents and radicalise public opinion. A good example would be the internet campaign of Javier Millei, who posted AI images of his opponent that made him resemble a Chinese communist politician.

 

Regulating AI in elections: ethical and legal considerations

The Check Point report on the misuse of AI from various countries during the 2024 elections underlined the severity of the problem. Democracies can no longer pretend that the issue does not exist. The US, under Biden’s administration, has expressed its attitude in the blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. This became the base of the Election Assistance Commission for the creation of risk reports and opportunities for AI in the election system. A more detailed and far-reaching approach can be found in the EU AI Act. The document precisely mentions banned applications of AI, the transparency requirements and the regulation of deepfakes. The impact of this act on political transparency and AI, as well as the role of Civil Society organisations as a watchdog, has been outlined in the European Partnership for Democracy Report.

 

Concluding remarks

AI undeniably is a technology that is able to change the world in a manner never seen before. With its clear advantages, but also sinister risks AI can either destroy or make democracy flourish. The election year of 2024 showed that the phenomenon will require a collective effort of legislators, philosophers and citizens of democratic societies to overcome and utilise paving a way into the future.

 

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