As the 2024 presidential elections in the U.S. get nearer, Republicans and Democrats are increasingly searches for ways to get a leg up on their counterparts, especially when it comes to that crucial Latino vote. And artificial intelligence seems to be at the forefront.
Just this week Donald Trump shared doctored images showing Taylor Swift and her fans supporting his presidential campaign, in an apparent effort to tap into the pop singer's mega star power in the US election.
Now comes news that Democratic and progressive organizations have been exploring the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to engage Latino and Black voters, particularly young ones, as reported by The Guardian.
One such initiative involves "Vote-E," an AI-powered chatbot available on Discord and Twitch streams hosted by Latino and Black gaming influencers. Designed by NextGen America, one of the nation's largest youth voter organizations in the country, Vote-E provides users with quick answers to election-related questions, such as how to register to vote or deadlines for voter registration in specific states.
The chatbot is active in key battleground states, including Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and North Carolina.
Héctor Sánchez Barba, president and chief executive of Mi Familia Vota, told The Guardian about another initiative which uses AI to have human-sounding, bilingual conversations with Latino voters on platforms like WhatsApp. "We need this kind of brainpower when we're fighting the biggest enemy our community has ever had," Sánchez Barba said of Trump. "This is about using the most important technological advancements, including artificial intelligence, for good and to save our democracy."
Despite the potential of AI, there are concerns about its impact on voter trust and the spread of misinformation. For example, AI-generated deepfakes have already been used to create misleading content about Harris. And Trump has also made AI part of his usual baseless rhetoric, claiming Harris is using AI to fake huge rally crowds.
In a recent interview with The Latin Times, Tamoa Calzadilla, editor-in-chief of fact-checking website Factchequeado summed up some of the additional dangers that AI presents in a polarized context like the current one and suggested the need for regulation of these technologies:
"These are the first elections with generative Artificial Intelligence doing its thing so that's a challenge right there. There isn't necessarily a regulation to prevent a political party or someone involved in politics from deceiving you with fake news or anything else. If you as a user want to see a certain content then great but you should know that it has been manipulated. If you want to listen to this audio or if you want to look at that video, I want you to know that it's made with AI and it's a deepfake."
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