Op-ed: The EU's Artificial Intelligence Act does little to protect democracy

Let me introduce you to Marie. Marie is a 28-year-old professional and while on her way home from work is talking to a TikTok follower about the French elections. This follower has an uncanny ability to touch on subjects that mean the most to her. Almost overnight, Marie's social media feeds become increasingly filled with political themes, until on election day, her vote has already been heavily influenced. The trouble is the TikTok follower is not a person, but an artificial intelligence-driven bot, exploiting personal but publicly available data about Marie to manipulate her opinion.