The Impact of AI – IBM

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Advocates have hailed generative AI as a powerful tool for “democratizing creativity.”²⁸ But the same tools are just as easily applied to deceptive ends. 

AI-created misinformation has proliferated since 2023 at lightning speed and includes images, video and screenshots with fraudulent text.²⁹ AI-powered bots flood social media networks with misleading posts and comments.³⁰ Bad actors can use AI to manipulate audio and video recordings or images and create realistic deepfakes intended to deceive. Some are harmless fun, such as the viral image of Pope Francis in a fashionable white puffer jacket, but others have more insidious effects. 

During the early weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a video appeared online that appeared to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urging citizens to cease fighting against Russian soldiers.³¹ The following year, a deepfaked pro-China video campaign spread across Facebook and Twitter featuring AI-generated newscasters.³²

In the lead-up to the 2024 American presidential election, some voters received automated calls with a deepfaked recording from President Biden urging them not to vote in the upcoming Democratic primary.³³ President Trump shared several deepfaked images that appeared to depict an endorsement from music superstar Taylor Swift.³⁴

Cybercriminals can use AI deepfakes to perpetrate voice scams and fool victims into transferring money to them.³⁵ Cybersecurity advocates promote fraud detection techniques such as establishing verification protocols with family members. Learning to detect AI scams can help shore up vulnerabilities in at-risk populations.

The more convincing generative AI output becomes, the thinner the veil between actual and manufactured reality grows. While some researchers are exploring the potential benefits of deepfakes in counterterrorism campaigns,³⁶ media consumers must learn to evaluate the images and videos they see through a critical lens. In the meantime, tech companies and governments must collaborate to mitigate harms and guide responsible and ethical AI use.