Concern about doctored or manipulative media is always high around election cycles, but 2024 will be different for two reasons: deepfakes made by artificial intelligence (AI) and the sheer number of polls.
The term deepfake refers to a hoax that uses AI to create a phoney image, most commonly fake videos of people, with the effect often compounded by a voice component. Combined with the fact that around half the world’s population is holding important elections this year – including India, the US, the EU and, most probably, the UK – and there is potential for the technology to be highly disruptive.
