AI Isn't Destabilizing Elections (opinion)
The research was conducted by computer scientist Arvind Narayanan, director of the Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy, and Sayash Kapoor, a computer science Ph.D. candidate at Princeton. The pair are writing a book called AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference.
Using information compiled by the WIRED AI Elections Project, Narayanan and Kapoor analyzed 78 instances of AI-created political content that appeared last year during elections around the world. "AI does make it possible to fabricate false content. But that has not fundamentally changed the landscape of political misinformation," they write in an essay about their research.
Their analysis found that much of the AI-generated content was not intended to be deceptive. "To our surprise, there was no deceptive intent in 39 of the 78 cases in the database," they write. In more than a dozen instances, campaigns used AI tools to improve campaign materials.
There were also more novel uses, such as in Venezuela, where "journalists used AI avatars to avoid government retribution when covering news adversarial to the government," or in California, where "a candidate with laryngitis lost his voice, so he transparently used AI voice cloning to read out typed messages in his voice during meet-and-greets."
Moreover, deceptive content was not necessarily dependent on AI for its production. "For each of the 39 examples of deceptive intent, where AI use was intended to make viewers believe outright false information, we estimated the cost of creating similar content without AI—for example, by hiring Photoshop experts, video editors, or voice actors," write Narayanan and Kapoor. "In each case, the cost of creating similar content without AI was modest—no more than a few hundred dollars."
In one instance, they even found a video involving a hired actor misclassified by Wired's database as AI-generated content. This snafu, they say, highlights how "it has long been possible to create media with outright false information without using AI or other fancy tools."
Their takeaway: We should be focusing on the demand side of this equation, not the supply side. Election-related misinformation has long been an issue. And while AI might change how such content is created, it doesn't fundamentally change how it spreads or its impacts.
"Successful misinformation operations target in-group members—people who already agree with the broad intent of the message," point out Narayanan and Kapoor. "Sophisticated tools aren't needed for misinformation to be effective in this context."
Meanwhile, outgroups are unlikely to be fooled or influenced, whether such operations are AI-aided or not. "Seen in this light, AI misinformation plays a very different role from its popular depiction of swaying voters in elections," the researchers suggest.
The post AI Isn't Destabilizing Elections appeared first on Reason.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Doximity (DOCS) Soars 14% on Strong Earnings, Merger with AI-Powered Platform
We recently published . Doximity Inc. (NYSE:DOCS) is one of the best-performing stocks on Friday. Doximity Inc. extended its winning streak to a third consecutive day on Friday, jumping 13.71 percent to close at $66.58 apiece as investors continued to load up positions following a strong earnings performance and its increasing adoption of artificial intelligence. In its updated report, Doximity, Inc. (NYSE:DOCS) registered a net income of $53.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, marking a 28-percent growth from the $41.37 million in the same period last year. Revenues grew by 15 percent to $145.9 million from $126.68 million year-on-year. ESB Professional/ For the full fiscal year 2026 period, Doximity, Inc. (NYSE:DOCS) targets to book $628 million to $636 million in revenues, or a 10 to 11.5 percent growth from the $570.4 million registered in full fiscal year 2025. Adjusted EBITDA is also expected to grow between 8.7 and 11.2 percent to $341 million to $349 million, from the $313.8 million posted a year earlier. Earlier this week, Doximity, Inc. (NYSE:DOCS) announced the completion of its $63 million merger with AI-powered platform Pathway Medical Inc. According to Doximity, Inc. (NYSE:DOCS), Pathway's model outperforms others in clinical accuracy, recently scoring a record 96 percent on the US Medical Licensing Examination benchmark. 'There's a growing need for clinical tools that combine trusted evidence with the speed and adaptability of AI,' said Pathway CEO Jon Hershon. 'Hundreds of thousands of users have registered for Pathway, and thousands pay $300 per year for our premium product. With Doximity, one of the most trusted platforms in healthcare, we're now bringing that experience to millions for free, built directly into the tools they already use at the point of care.' While we acknowledge the potential of DOCS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the . Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
6 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Traders Are Fleeing Stocks Feared to Be Under Threat From AI
Artificial intelligence's imprint on US financial markets is unmistakable. Nvidia Corp. is the most valuable company in the world at nearly $4.5 trillion. Startups from OpenAI to Anthropic have raised tens of billions of dollars. But there's a downside to the new technology that investors are increasingly taking note of: It threatens to upend industries much like the internet did before it. And investors have started placing bets on just where that disruption will occur next, ditching shares in companies some strategists expect will see falloffs in demand as AI applications become more widely adopted.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Traders Are Fleeing Stocks Feared to Be Under Threat From AI
(Bloomberg) -- Artificial intelligence's imprint on US financial markets is unmistakable. Nvidia Corp. is the most valuable company in the world at nearly $4.5 trillion. Startups from OpenAI to Anthropic have raised tens of billions of dollars. New York Warns of $34 Billion Budget Hole, Biggest Since 2009 Crisis All Hail the Humble Speed Hump Three Deaths Reported as NYC Legionnaires' Outbreak Spreads Mayor Asked to Explain $1.4 Billion of Wasted Johannesburg Funds A New Stage for the Theater That Gave America Shakespeare in the Park But there's a downside to the new technology that investors are increasingly taking note of: It threatens to upend industries much like the internet did before it. And investors have started placing bets on just where that disruption will occur next, ditching shares in companies some strategists expect will see falloffs in demand as AI applications become more widely adopted. Among them are web-development firms like Ltd., digital-image company Shutterstock Inc. and software maker Adobe Inc. The trio are part of a basket of 26 companies Bank of America strategists identified as most at risk from AI. The group has underperformed the S&P 500 Index by about 22 percentage points since mid-May after more or less keeping pace with the market since ChatGPT's debut in late 2022. 'The disruption is real,' said Daniel Newman, chief executive officer of the Futurum Group. 'We thought it would happen over five years. It seems like it is going to happen over two. Service-based businesses with a high headcount, those are going to be really vulnerable, even if they have robust businesses from the last era of tech.' So far, few companies have failed as a result of the proliferation of chatbots and so-called agents that can write software code, answer complex questions and produce photos and videos. But with tech giants like Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. pouring hundreds of billions into AI, investors have started to get more defensive. and Shutterstock are down at least 33% in 2025, compared with a 8.6% advance for the broad benchmark. Adobe has fallen 23% amid concerns clients will look to AI platforms that can generate images and videos, as Coca-Cola has already done with an AI-generated ad. ManpowerGroup Inc., whose staffing services could be hurt by rising automation, is down 30% this year, while peer Robert Half Inc. has shed more than half its value, dropping to its lowest in more than five years. The souring sentiment among investors comes as AI is changing everything from the way people get information from the internet to how colleges function. Even companies at the vanguard of the technology's development like Microsoft have been slashing jobs as productivity improves and to make way for more AI investments. To many tech-industry watchers, the time is nearing when AI becomes so pervasive that companies start going out of business. Anxiety about AI's impact on existing companies was on display last week when Gartner Inc. shares were routed after the market-research company cut its revenue forecast for the year. The stock fell 30% in the five days, its biggest one-week drop on record. While the company blamed US government policies including spending cuts and tariffs, analysts were quick to point the finger at AI, which investors fear could provide cheaper alternatives to Gartner's research and analysis even though the company is deploying its own AI-powered tools. Morgan Stanley said the results 'added fuel to the AI disruption case,' while Baird was left 'incrementally concerned AI risks are having an impact.' Gartner representatives didn't respond to a request for comment. Historical precedents abound for new technology wiping out industries. The telegraph gave way to telephones, horsewhips and buggies were toppled by the automobile, and Blockbuster's eradication by Netflix Inc. exemplified the internet's disruption. 'There are a lot of pockets of the market that could be basically annihilated by AI, or at least the industry will see extreme disruption, and companies will be rendered irrelevant,' said Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer at 50 Park Investments. 'Any company where you're paying someone to do something that AI can do faster and cheaper will be wiped out. Think graphic design, administrative work, data-analysis.' Of course, plenty of companies that were expected to be hammered by AI are thriving. Even though many AI companies offer instant translation services, Duolingo Inc., the owner of a language-learning app, soared after raising its outlook for 2025 sales, in part because of how it has implemented AI into its own strategy. The stock has roughly doubled over the past year — but concerns linger that the next generation of AI will be a threat. The defensive moves from investors come as AI has re-emerged as the dominant theme between winners and losers in the stock market this year. It's been a stark reversal from earlier in 2025 when AI models developed on the cheap in China called into question US dominance in the field and raised concerns that spending on computing gear was set to slow. Instead, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet Inc. and Inc. have doubled down on spending. The four companies are expected to pour roughly $350 billion into combined capital expenditures in their current fiscal years, up nearly 50% from the previous year, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Much of that is funding the build out of AI infrastructure, which is benefiting companies like Nvidia, whose chips dominate the market for AI computing. Figuring out which companies are vulnerable to the technology takes a bit more nuance. Alphabet is widely seen as one of the best-positioned companies, with cutting edge features and top-tier talent and data. However, it is a component of Bank of America's AI risk basket, and the sense that it is playing defense — protecting its huge share of the lucrative internet search market — has long dogged the stock. For other companies, the risk seems more clear. Advertising agency Omnicom Group Inc. has dropped 15% this year, as it faces a future where Meta is reportedly looking to fully automate ad creation through AI. Peer WPP Plc is down more than 50%. 'The traditional advertising agency model is under intense pressure and that is before GenAI starts to really scale,' Michael Nathanson, senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, wrote in a research note. With so many companies facing AI risks, it's an investment theme that is poised to intensify, according to Phil Fersht, chief executive officer of HFS Research. 'Wall Street clearly has the jitters,' Fersht said. 'This is going to be a tough, unforgiving market.' The Pizza Oven Startup With a Plan to Own Every Piece of the Pie Digital Nomads Are Transforming Medellín's Housing Russia's Secret War and the Plot to Kill a German CEO It's Only a Matter of Time Until Americans Pay for Trump's Tariffs The Game Starts at 8. The Robbery Starts at 8:01 ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
