From NPR All Things Considered
How AI deepfakes polluted elections in 2024
By Shannon Bond
In January, thousands of New Hampshire voters picked up their phones to hear what sounded like President Biden telling Democrats not to vote in the state’s primary, just days away.
“We know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It’s important you save your vote for the November election,” the voice on the line said...
“The nightmare situation was the day before, the day of election, the day after election, some bombshell image, some bombshell video or audio would just set the world on fire,” said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who studies manipulated media.
The Biden deepfake turned out to be commissioned by a Democratic political consultant who said he did it to raise alarms about AI. He was fined $6 million by the FCC and indicted on criminal charges in New Hampshire.
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.
