September 25, 2024 • 6 mins
Newsradio WFLA's Read Shepherd talks with Marci Andino, VP-Elections Infrastructure, Information Sharing and Analysis Center, about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the 2024 elections.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is read Shepherd News Radio WFLA, and this is
beyond the news. The election is coming up quick, faster
than a lot of people might realize. And one of
the big concerns that people seem to have about the
election season this year is the reliability of the elections.
Will they be will they be real? They will they
(00:22):
be safe? Well, we're going to talk a little bit
about that because one thing that seems to be playing
coming into play more and more as we get closer
to the elections is artificial intelligence and what role that
is going to play this fault. We are delighted to
be joined on the program by Marci Andino. Marcy, let
me see if I get this title right, because there's
(00:42):
a lot here. The vice president of Elections Infrastructure or Information,
the Information Sharing and Analysis Center, how'd I do?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
He did? Great? Read? Thank you?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Okay, Well, I guess let's just let me just kind
of toss out the very basic question is what role
is artificial intelligence going to play in the twenty twenty
four elections and how is it and how are we
going to see it? What is it going to what's
it going to look like?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well read? Presidential elections are always the most challenging for
election officials, and this year, one of those challenges is
how will generative AI impact elections. We're already starting to
see the use of deep fakes, and we expect that
(01:35):
as we get closer to election day that we'll continue
to see that trend.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It seems like a lot of people and I ran
across a poll here a couple of weeks ago, the
growing number of people who are concerned that about AI's
ability to generate and spread misinformation in the election campaign
could have a major impact as we head toward November.
What kind of things should we be looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well, so, one of the things that generative AI does
is easily produces deep fakes. And deep fakes can be videos,
they can be audio, and they can be images of
people that are recognizable, like your state election director or
secretary of state, but the actions and the words are
(02:25):
created using generative AI. So it looks like someone you
recognize is telling you something, but what they're telling you
may not make sense or it may not align with
what you would expect to hear. So I think that
we have to really just question everything that we see,
(02:47):
particularly on social media or on the Internet, and make
sure that we always go to the source to get
our information.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
You know, I remember a situation months ago with a
with a deep fake purporting to be Governor Ron Desatus
here in Florida. I could tell you it was good.
I mean it was almost impossible to tell that that
was not Governor de Satus that I was hearing. So,
you know, the the the incredible technology that we're seeing
(03:19):
here really has a potential I think to uh, you know,
it's it's there because this stuff is really good when
you get right down to it.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's right. And that's a really good point because the
quality of deep bakes is rapidly improving, making it very
hard to detect and maybe impossible for someone just to
look at it and know that it is a deep fake.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
One thing I think voters seem to be concerned about it,
and this is kind of refers back to that poll
I saw a few weeks ago. Is voter's ability to
discern AI generated content from real content online? Is there
a way to tell a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, there are tools that can be used to determine
if it's a deep fake, but your average voter, you know,
we're not going to do that, but you know, these
deep fakes. They're out there to create voter confusion. They
are distractions to election officials, and the most important thing
that voters can do is go to the source. Go
(04:23):
to the local election office, go to the state election
office to get your information about voter registration and elections.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We're talking to Marci and Dino, the vice president for
Elections Infrastructure at Information Sharing and Analysis Center. Marcy, is
there a way that AI can make a positive impact
on the elections oft Tonight? We've been talking about disinformation
and people's concern about it, but how can AI be
a positive force?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So AI can't be used for both good and bad purposes.
We use AI every day and we don't always realize
that we're using it. We have personal assistance. We get
recommendations on what to watch on television and then certainly
what to purchase because it knows our trends. So for
(05:16):
this election year, AI is going to be used for
good purposes in very limited ways. But in the future
I can see AI assisting with the redistricting process, which
is very tedious. Making sure that every voter has the
correct election districts assigned to them and creating ballots is
(05:41):
also another very tedious task. So there's lots of room
for AI to play a positive role in elections, but
the technology hasn't caught up yet.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
You know, I was just about to ask you before
we before we break here this morning, is the impact
of AI on future elections? You mentioned several things that
we might see going forward. This is really about the
first election season that we've seen AI have a possible impact.
But going forward, is AI going to be more of
(06:16):
a force in the election In the election process.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
It certainly seems like it will be more of a force.
We're seeing AI used in different industries, and the election
technology industry usually lags behind. So yes, I expect to
see good things come out of AI in elections in
the future. For now, we have to deal with the
(06:44):
use of deep dakes and arm ourselves with good trusted information.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
All right, Marcy and Dino, I want to thank you
very much for joining us on Beyond the News and
I'm read Shepherd News Radio WFLA.
This is read Shepherd News Radio WFLA, and this is
beyond the news. The election is coming up quick, faster
than a lot of people might realize. And one of
the big concerns that people seem to have about the
election season this year is the reliability of the elections.
Will they be will they be real? They will they
(00:22):
be safe? Well, we're going to talk a little bit
about that because one thing that seems to be playing
coming into play more and more as we get closer
to the elections is artificial intelligence and what role that
is going to play this fault. We are delighted to
be joined on the program by Marci Andino. Marcy, let
me see if I get this title right, because there's
(00:42):
a lot here. The vice president of Elections Infrastructure or Information,
the Information Sharing and Analysis Center, how'd I do?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
He did? Great? Read? Thank you?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Okay, Well, I guess let's just let me just kind
of toss out the very basic question is what role
is artificial intelligence going to play in the twenty twenty
four elections and how is it and how are we
going to see it? What is it going to what's
it going to look like?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well read? Presidential elections are always the most challenging for
election officials, and this year, one of those challenges is
how will generative AI impact elections. We're already starting to
see the use of deep fakes, and we expect that
(01:35):
as we get closer to election day that we'll continue
to see that trend.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It seems like a lot of people and I ran
across a poll here a couple of weeks ago, the
growing number of people who are concerned that about AI's
ability to generate and spread misinformation in the election campaign
could have a major impact as we head toward November.
What kind of things should we be looking for.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well, so, one of the things that generative AI does
is easily produces deep fakes. And deep fakes can be videos,
they can be audio, and they can be images of
people that are recognizable, like your state election director or
secretary of state, but the actions and the words are
(02:25):
created using generative AI. So it looks like someone you
recognize is telling you something, but what they're telling you
may not make sense or it may not align with
what you would expect to hear. So I think that
we have to really just question everything that we see,
(02:47):
particularly on social media or on the Internet, and make
sure that we always go to the source to get
our information.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
You know, I remember a situation months ago with a
with a deep fake purporting to be Governor Ron Desatus
here in Florida. I could tell you it was good.
I mean it was almost impossible to tell that that
was not Governor de Satus that I was hearing. So,
you know, the the the incredible technology that we're seeing
(03:19):
here really has a potential I think to uh, you know,
it's it's there because this stuff is really good when
you get right down to it.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
That's right. And that's a really good point because the
quality of deep bakes is rapidly improving, making it very
hard to detect and maybe impossible for someone just to
look at it and know that it is a deep fake.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
One thing I think voters seem to be concerned about it,
and this is kind of refers back to that poll
I saw a few weeks ago. Is voter's ability to
discern AI generated content from real content online? Is there
a way to tell a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Well, there are tools that can be used to determine
if it's a deep fake, but your average voter, you know,
we're not going to do that, but you know, these
deep fakes. They're out there to create voter confusion. They
are distractions to election officials, and the most important thing
that voters can do is go to the source. Go
(04:23):
to the local election office, go to the state election
office to get your information about voter registration and elections.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We're talking to Marci and Dino, the vice president for
Elections Infrastructure at Information Sharing and Analysis Center. Marcy, is
there a way that AI can make a positive impact
on the elections oft Tonight? We've been talking about disinformation
and people's concern about it, but how can AI be
a positive force?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So AI can't be used for both good and bad purposes.
We use AI every day and we don't always realize
that we're using it. We have personal assistance. We get
recommendations on what to watch on television and then certainly
what to purchase because it knows our trends. So for
(05:16):
this election year, AI is going to be used for
good purposes in very limited ways. But in the future
I can see AI assisting with the redistricting process, which
is very tedious. Making sure that every voter has the
correct election districts assigned to them and creating ballots is
(05:41):
also another very tedious task. So there's lots of room
for AI to play a positive role in elections, but
the technology hasn't caught up yet.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
You know, I was just about to ask you before
we before we break here this morning, is the impact
of AI on future elections? You mentioned several things that
we might see going forward. This is really about the
first election season that we've seen AI have a possible impact.
But going forward, is AI going to be more of
(06:16):
a force in the election In the election process.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
It certainly seems like it will be more of a force.
We're seeing AI used in different industries, and the election
technology industry usually lags behind. So yes, I expect to
see good things come out of AI in elections in
the future. For now, we have to deal with the
(06:44):
use of deep dakes and arm ourselves with good trusted information.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
All right, Marcy and Dino, I want to thank you
very much for joining us on Beyond the News and
I'm read Shepherd News Radio WFLA.
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