Top election leaders worry ‘terrifying’ AI will dupe voters

The potential use of content-generating artificial intelligence and deepfake videos to sway or dupe voters is a growing concern of secretaries of state across the country, according to interviews with a dozen and a half top election leaders at their semi-annual gathering held this week in the nation’s capital. “This is the number one issue that we’re talking about behind the scenes at this conference,” said Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams. “It’s a big concern,” echoed David Scanlan, secretary of state in New Hampshire. Scott Schwab, the secretary of state in Kansas and newly-installed president of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), said the challenge of AI in campaigns and elections is “very real, very fast.”Nebraska Secretary of State Robert Evnen warned, “It can also be very damaging and destructive.”Legislation focuses on deepfakesPhil McGrane, who oversees Idaho elections as secretary of state, said he recently tried out a generative AI tool – and quickly discovered its fallibility. “I had it write a bio of me, and it provided information that was written very persuasively but was, in fact, inaccurate.”A few states are starting to take legislative action. In Washington, Steve Hobbs, the secretary of state, said he helped introduce legislation, signed into law in May by Gov. Jay Inslee, that “goes after the deepfakes” by requiring disclosure of manipulated videos in political ads. Such AI-distorted videos make it appear a speaker said something that, in reality, they did not. “We have to get ahead of this threat,” Hobbs said.WATCH FULL INTERVIEWS WITH TOP STATE ELECTION LEADERS AT THE END OF THIS STORY.“I think that it’s just going to…