Future Irish elections will be targeted by malicious actors using artificial intelligence (AI), and as a result precautions need to be taken, says Senator Fine Gael.
Louth Enator John McGahon says AI has great potential, but if left unchecked, it poses a “great threat to our democracy.”
“We have seen what has happened internationally in the past with elections and referendums targeting technological advances, and AI will not change that,” said McGahon. rice field.
This happens when Michael Schumacher’s family follows a German magazine to create a fake AI interview with a seriously injured former F1 driver.
McGahon said:
“Technology moves at lightning speed, and governments are incredibly slow to try to check this new balance of power.
“The Cambridge Analytica scandal, which used data from 50 million Facebook users to try and influence the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election and the UK’s Brexit referendum, helped the government protect its citizens from large-scale crime. An example of the failure of regulation to protect technology.
“AI will be the next frontier for this to happen. It is certainly the future and needs to be approached carefully to ensure the right regulations and safeguards are included.
“Our own elections here are easy targets for people who don’t respect democracy. We can’t allow that.
“The fake Michael Schumacher interview may seem trivial, but it is just one example of the dangers AI poses,” said McGahon.
Senator Louth said AI capabilities could create credible-looking deepfakes, which poses “economic risk and reputational damage” to those targeted.
He said a task force should be set up to determine how European Union countries will deal with the potential threat posed by AI.
“All of these can be used to manipulate elections and undermine the credibility of democratic institutions.
“Scientists, along with concerns about security threats, invasion of privacy, and social stigma, have genuine concerns that AI can be used to create autonomous weapons and eliminate thousands of manual tasks. increase.
“Time is of the essence here. We need a task force set up by the major governments and the European Union on how we will approach this.
“In the meantime, governments are figuring out what to do next, but AI is still expanding at lightning speed,” McGahon said.
