Sen. Klobuchar chairs bipartisan hearing on A.I. and election security

Senator Amy Klobuchar held a bipartisan hearing regarding artificial intelligence and the future of election security.

The use of A.I. is here and has been for quite some time. From medical technology, the use of Chat GPT as well as other means of A.I., like deepfakes can be used to for both good and bad.

Senator Amy Klobuchar is the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration with oversight over federal elections.

Her biggest concern is how this could affect voters ability to decipher what is real and fake online. “The problem for voters is that people are going to be able to distinguish if it’s the opposing candidate or their own candidate, if it’s them talking or not,” says Klobuchar.

Deepfakes are videos that are not real, but use the voice and face of real people. Senator Klobuchar shared a story about someone who shared a deepfake video of Senator Elizabeth Warren saying that people of the opposite party should not be allowed to vote. It was not her, but it sounded and looked like her. Klobuchar notes the video had over 200,000 views.

Another concern, brought to attention by President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in Washington D.C. Maya Wiley is that A.I. has proven to disproportionately affect people of color. This could do the same with elections, said Wiley.

Free Speech Counselor Ari Cohn made a point that A.I. poses the same threat that it always has. Cohn says that whether politician’s are aware or not, A.I. has been used in their campaigns.