Artificial Intelligence, Deepfake, Voice Cloning: Tech Threats to Lok Sabha Election 2024

The threat of artificial intelligence, deepfake and voice cloning loom large at a time when India goes into the most important phase for the democratic nation, the Lok Sabha Election 2024. The technology is making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake – but convincing – content aimed at fooling voters.

Hyderabad:The heat of the elections is increasing rapidly as the dates of Lok Sabha polls inch closer. Leaders from across the country are sharpening criticism and counter-criticism to win, both in the war of words and the elections.

At a time when parties and leaders have put in everything for the win, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), deepfake, and voice cloning technologies have been discussed time and again. With this advanced technology comes both profit and loss. With these tools, cybercriminals are creating havoc with actions such as changing a person's appearance and impersonating words. There is a possibility of using such technical gimmicks in the elections to influence the voters as well. This can be biased for/against a party. Experts suggest that these will disrupt fair elections and create widespread awareness among the people.

Unlike a few years ago, AI technologies have become cheaply available. Experts warn that it doesn't take big companies to make deepfakes that fool people, and people with little knowledge can spread fakes with the help of a laptop. The threat, which all are predicting, has already shown its trailer with fake videos of Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Kamal Nath being surfaced across the social media.

In the elections of Pakistan and Bangladesh, cybercriminals created deepfake messages that killed the interest of voters. "Don't come for polling. There has been massive rigging against us," the messages read. The leaders of the affected parties from the two countries made sincere appeals to the voters and tried convincing them. But, the deepfake had already done its work.

Deepfake videos appeared before the elections in Bangladesh. Among them, opposition politician Rumin Farhana was shown in a bikini and another woman leader, Nipun Rai, was shown in a swimming pool.

A fake message imitating President Joe Biden's voice was received in the primary election in New Hampshire, USA in January this year. In Slovakia, a candidate's voice was imitated with the help of AI. In it, he claimed that he was planning to increase the price of liquor and rig the elections

Increased Threat

With mobile data now available cheaply in India, the use of smartphones is widespread. In this background, experts say that deepfakes on social media can spread like wildfire and increase the anger of the voters against the candidates. There is a risk of making people believe that even if you vote, it will be in vain. Fake news created by AI also threatens to erode public confidence in the electoral process and democratic systems

In 2020, BJP leader Manoj Tiwari released an AI-based video message dubbed in the Haryanvi dialect in the wake of the Delhi Assembly elections. It took a day and a half for Tiwari's lip movements to sync up with the speech. Moreover, that voice is not created by technology but dubbed by a mimicry artist. But now technology has changed. Along with lip-syncing technology, voice training modules have arrived. With the help of these, videos can be quickly made exactly as the person is speaking.

Many countries may be interested in Indian elections and this interest may further pose a threat as AI influence will widen.

AI for the Good

AI can also be used for good things in the elections. Interesting innovations are 'personalized interactive phone calls' to voters. Such one-to-one calls are yet to materialize in India. However, pre-recorded messages with the candidate's voice mentioning the names of individual voters were used by the Congress in Rajasthan and the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi.

AI can also be used to translate a leader's speech into other languages from time to time, like Prime Minister Narendra Modi's voice in Hindi was automatically converted into English for Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, in their recent interaction.

Government and EC on AI

The Election Commission has already issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to detect fake news and misinformation and to respond quickly.

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) has been appointed as the nodal agency by the central government to deal with the threat posed by AI during elections. Its purpose is to remove objectionable content online.

Cybercrime units of state police also 'patrol' online to identify fake news and objectionable content.

EC officials say that social media cells have been set up in coordination with cyber cells in all districts for quick action. It is explained that the 'Media Certification and Monitoring Committee' of the Election Commission has also closely monitored social media.