AI-generated video dangerous for democracy: Miles
A deepfake video of the Queensland premier dancing may seem amusing but Steven Miles says it is a dangerous turning point for democracy.
The Liberal-National Party in Queensland posted a video on the social media platform TikTok showing Steven Miles grooving to a popular 2000s song.
It was captioned: “POV: my rent is up $60 a week, my power bill is up 20 per cent, but the premier made a sandwich on TikTok.”
But the video is not the premier dancing, it has been created using generative artificial intelligence (AI) – technology that can create convincing photos or videos of a person or event from scratch.
The video is labelled with a disclaimer that it was created with AI.
The premier said the video seems harmless but it represents a “turning point for democracy”.
“Until now, we’ve known that photos could be doctored or photoshopped but we’ve been trained to believe what we see in video,” Mr Miles told reporters on Tuesday.
“For a political party now to be willing to use AI to make deepfake attack videos, it’s a very dangerous turning point.”
Mr Miles said all Queenslanders will now need to keep their eyes open for the occurrence of deepfake videos.
“Queenslanders between now and October will have to question everything that they see from the LNP and ask whether it is real or a deepfake,” he said.
He guaranteed the Queensland Labor Party has no plans to use deepfake videos for electoral advertising.
The LNP’s Queensland branch defended the post, saying it is clearly labelled as AI.
“Young Queenslanders have been hit with higher rents and increased power prices under Labor, and this post – which is clearly labelled as being created with AI – is an example of one way we can share that message,” a spokesperson said.
Mr Miles argued most people would miss the disclaimer when scrolling.
The LNP spokesperson added the Labor Party has also uploaded AI-generated videos to social media.
“Steven Miles knows AI is a tool commonly used by many creators on this platform and knows his own party has used it,” the spokesperson said.
The use of AI during elections has raised questions of integrity globally amid fears it will publicise misinformation.
The Australian Electoral Commission said it is focused on the impacts generative AI poses on “electoral integrity and citizen trust” in a submission to an inquiry into the technology earlier this year.
“The AEC is doing what we can to continue to monitor developments with this new and emerging threat,” it said.
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