Since the widespread rollout of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots in 2022, the scope of AI/ML capabilities and applications appears to have drastically increased. With the 2024 elections approaching, the increased quality, accessibility and application of Generative AI tools makes it important to understand and prepare for their misuse.
However, the ways in which threat actors may use AI technologies for election interference purposes is unclear. While AI tooling offers three core advantages to attackers – speed, scalability and accessibility – these are largely tactical benefits. This suggests that AI activities are unlikely to present a standalone threat to the 2024 elections by drastically impacting voter preferences or altering vote counts.
Rather, they are more likely to amplify existing risks in a way that could impact the security and integrity of an election cycle. Specifically, AI technologies could affect three key areas:
- Improved social engineering (e.g. creating synthetic/deepfake content for lures and information operations)
- Enhanced cyber operations (most notably reconnaissance phase techniques such as mapping out target networks)
- Attacks against AI systems themselves (targeting the AI systems used to safeguard elections)
This report takes a closer look at the AI risks to the 2024 election cycle, outlining current and possible applications of AI technologies and assessing their possible impact. It sheds light on how AI-generated content can affect elections and discusses the role of Generative AI tools in election misinformation.
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Cyber Security Services from BAE Systems Digital Intelligence
We believe that strong digital defences come from security of both the Enterprise and the Nation