How Much Difference Can AI Deep Fakes Really Make in Elections?

Deep fakes are "videos that have been constructed to make a person appear to say or do something that they never said or did. Many commentators worry that voters will be influenced by pure fiction: As the 2020 US election looms, we learn of the fight to stay ahead (CNN, April 26, 2019) of the "growing threat" (ABC Eyewitness News, May 7, 2019) because "The 2020 campaigns aren't ready for deepfakes" (Axios/HBO, June 4, 2019). We Can No Longer Believe What We See, the New York Times warned yesterday. Under the right set of circumstances, deepfakes will be very influential. They don't even have to be particularly good to potentially swing the outcome of an election. As with so much in elections, deepfakes are a numbers game. While the presence of tampering in all but the most sophisticated deepfakes can be quickly identified, not everyone who views them will get that message. More fundamentally, not everyone wants to get that message. As can occur with other forms of online ...