The Growing trend of artificial intelligence AI in election campaigns.
Growing Trend of AI in Election Campaigns there is a growing trend of creating voices of political leaders through AI on social media platforms.
It has only been a month since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) used artificial intelligence (AI) to create a speech in the voice of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for its virtual rally.
that using artificial intelligence to create the voices of political figures on social media platforms is a developing trend.
Growing Trend of Artificial Intelligence AI in Election Campaigns artificial intelligence voice and editing tools have brought a new dimension to election campaigning through technology.
from AI-generated party songs to advertising photos, opening a new chapter in digital politics.
In the last general elections, we observed a growing trend of digital political campaigning involving the creation of fake accounts.
Manipulation of hashtag trends, systematic creation of special mobile applications, and conducting digital campaigns through large social media ‘conventions’ were notable aspects of this trend.
Now that our country is heading towards the biggest ever digital elections in February, political parties want to know how they can take advantage of technology’s recent intrusion into politics.
Muslim League (N):
Muzakar Ejaz, the Muslim League (N)’s digital media consultant and head of their digital strategy, says, ‘We used AI to develop content for Nawaz Sharif’s rally at Minar-e-Pakistan before his visit in October.
Using AI to create images is beneficial, but these tools are not that good in Urdu, so we can only use them to a limited extent,” said Muzakar Ejaz.
He said that he has formed a team of 30 digital experts to support the election campaign of Muslim League (N).
Last year, a video allegedly depicted Imran Khan with his eyes closed, raising concerns among his supporters that authorities were not treating him well in jail.
X posted the 26-second video, and it garnered over 500 shares. An AFP fact check revealed that the footage had a filter applied to make it seem as though Imran Khan’s eyes were closed.
Nighat Dad:
The Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) executive director, Nighat Dad, stated, “The implications of using AI are troubling.”
Political parties are using AI to influence voters who are neither digitally savvy nor politically active. How will they differentiate between real and artificial media?
Nighat Dad, who is also a member of the United Nations Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, warns that regulatory questions about the use of AI remain unanswered.
She says that ‘in this context, the use of AI will lift people’s confidence in the credibility of information’.
The good thing is that there is a difference between real content and AI-generated content,” stated Gibran Ilyas, PTI’s social media officer.
We had to change 36 times to get 65% accuracy in Urdu, which is why people can easily tell it’s not genuine.
Gibran ilyas said that we are aware of the use of AI, so we made it clear in Imran Khan’s online rally that ‘this is Imran Khan’s AI voice’.
We are experimenting with using AI in many ways but we have to follow the rules,” he stated.
Before election day, we might think about publishing another Imran Khan address via AI.
He added that due to the growing popularity of Tik Tok among the youth and rural areas, PTI will focus on Tik Tok for its campaign closer to the elections.
Digital Awareness Among People:
Since the last general elections 2018, there has been a significant increase in the use of internet users.
According to PTA, in 2018 there were 55 million mobile broadband subscribers and 55 million broadband internet users.
But according to November 2023 statistics, there are 12.6 million mobile broadband users and 12.9 million broadband internet users across the country (which is 54 percent of the total population).
In view of the significant increase in digital usage, the Election Commission of Pakistan has for the first time issued a code of conduct for digital media and social media influencers in general elections.
The Code of Conduct prohibits dissemination of material harmful to national ideology, sovereignty, dignity or security, harming national unity or causing problems of law and order.
The Election Commission has worked with tech platforms on digital awareness campaigns prior to elections, but it has not released any guidelines on acceptable technology use.
nor held political parties financially accountable for their use of it.
A study was conducted by the Freedom Network for Coalition Against Disinformation (CAD).
In which an attempt was made to find out how university students perceive misinformation.
Most young people (63 percent of respondents) believe that they get misinformation on the Internet every day, and 62 percent believe that misinformation is a threat to democracy and elections.
Institute of Business Administration:
The Institute of Business Administration’s (IBA) Center of Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) head, Anbar Rahim Shamsi, declared that “truth has lost its value.”
We held workshops on digital literacy for eight hundred students at thirteen Pakistani universities.
It is evident that young people are still unable to discriminate between propaganda and reality.
In an effort to increase the amount of independent and unbiased reporting in the nation’s journalistic environment, Amber Raham Shamsi and her team have introduced i Verify for impartial fact-checking.
Since 2018, media organizations have become more conscious about fact-checking.
But none of the students with whom we met knew about the process of fact-checking. Numerous actions still need to be made in this regard.
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