Microsoft and OpenAI have announced a $2 million fund to combat growing risks of AI and deepfakes being used to “deceive voters and undermine democracy.”
This year, a record 2 billion people will go to the polls in elections in about 50 countries. As such, there are concerns about the impact AI will have on voters – particularly those in “vulnerable communities” who may be more prone to taking what they see at face value.
The rise of generative AI, including hugely popular chatbots like ChatGPT, has led to a major new threat landscape with AI-generated “deepfakes” aimed at perpetuating disinformation. It doesn’t help that these new tools are widely available, allowing anyone to create fake videos, photos or audio recordings of high-profile political figures.
Just on Monday, the Indian Election Commission called on political parties to refrain from using deepfakes and similar disinformation in their online campaigns surrounding the elections.
With this in mind, all major technology companies, including Microsoft and OpenAI, have signed voluntary commitments to address such risks and have made plans to build a common framework to combat deepfakes explicitly created to mislead voters.
Elsewhere, major AI companies have begun to address these risks by introducing limitations into their software. For example, Google has said it will not allow its Gemini AI chatbot to answer election-related questions, while Facebook’s parent company Meta is also restricting election-related answers via its AI chatbot.
Microsoft and OpenAI’s new “Societal Resilience Fund” aims to “promote AI education and skills among voters and vulnerable communities,” the companies said in a blog post published today. This would involve awarding grants to a handful of organizations, including Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), and Partnership on AI (PAI ). .
According to Microsoft, these grants are intended to help create a better understanding of AI and its capabilities across society. For example, OATS will apparently use its grant for training programs aimed at people aged 50 and over in the US covering the “fundamental aspects of AI”.
“The launch of the Societal Resilience Fund is just one step that demonstrates Microsoft and OpenAI’s commitment to addressing the challenges and needs in AI literacy and education,” said Teresa Hutson, Microsoft’s corporate VP of technology and corporate responsibility, in the blog post. “Microsoft and OpenAI will remain committed to this work, and we will continue to collaborate with organizations and initiatives that share our goals and values.”