Kyle Marcelino Tech 02.27.2024 23:Feb PM EST

AI Chatbot 'Hallucinations' Could Affect Votes in 2024 Elections

AI "hallucinations" are now being seen as a potential risk in further spreading political misinformation and possibly affecting voter retention in the upcoming 2024 Presidential Elections.

Several lawmakers have expressed concern about the emerging technology on its impact on the election process as people become more reliant on chatbots as an alternative source of information, Associated Press reported.

(Photo : Growtika via Unsplash)

Speaking to AP, Philadelphia City commissioner Seth Bluestein alerted how "chatbots are not ready for primetime when it comes to giving important, nuanced information about elections."

AI Issue Raise Ahead of Super Tuesday Primary

This is not to include the instances of AI being used to mislead people on election-related information as it did with the deepfake audios of US President Joe Biden in the New Hampshire primary.

The issue with AI in the election period is expected to be one of the main topics that will be discussed in the upcoming Super Tuesday primary election on March 5.

Delegates from Republican and Democratic parties across 15 states are set to appear on the biggest election results indicator ahead of the actual voting in November.

Also Read: Deepfake Audio of Biden Supposed to Highlight Need for AI Rules, Robocall Mastermind Says

AI Firms Set Up Guardrails to Curb AI Abuse

Amid concerns from legislators and watchdogs, several AI companies have already announced that they are taking steps to protect their AI tools from being abused for political gains.

Microsoft, Google, and other leading tech giants declared cooperation with the government to crack down on the spread of misinformation ahead of the 2024 Elections.

This is in addition to individual efforts like OpenAI's in tackling the risks posed by its products to information access.

OpenAI, so far, has added new guardrails and policies preventing malicious actors from using ChatGPT, DALL-E, or even the new Sora AI to impersonate famous political figures.

Social media platforms also indicated increased efforts to combat AI-fueled disinformation on their platforms in hopes of preventing the same catastrophe with the 2016 and 2020 Elections.