Politicians fear AI-generated deepfakes could trick voters

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Deep fake videos of politicians generated using artificial intelligence are a growing concern in elections worldwide and as Australia heads towards a federal election, there's worry they may surface here.

Transcript

00:00This is something that some politicians here in Canberra have been pretty worried about

00:07for a while now, that deepfakes could be made of them, whether it was audio or video, and

00:13being used to make them say or do anything, even if it's not true, and then be used to

00:19trick voters ahead of the election.

00:23So this was something that Senators have raised in a Senate committee last year here in Canberra,

00:29and there are a number of them who want action to make sure that these sorts of deepfakes

00:33can't be made of politicians or candidates ahead of the election, and like I said, be

00:39used to trick voters.

00:40So with the permission of Greens Senator David Shoebridge, the ABC got a deepfake made of

00:47him via computer security company McAfee.

00:51Now it must be said, not only did we have his permission, but these comments that he

00:54makes are comments that he's made before.

00:57So it is a statement that he's previously said, but this video isn't actually him.

01:01It's a deepfake of him using existing audio and video of him to try and make it look as

01:08believable as possible.

01:10Take a look for yourself at the deepfake.

01:12Our position is, and it's a position I had both as a state MP and now as a federal senator,

01:17that legalising cannabis just is a major way of reducing harm.

01:23So look, there's an obvious American accent there.

01:27But when I did show this to Senator Shoebridge, he still felt that it was uncomfortably persuasive

01:33and said that a lot of people consume these sorts of videos on their phone, sometimes

01:38with the sound off and with captions on.

01:40So he said with that in mind, it was even more concerning or had even more chance of

01:45being believable.

01:46This is his response when I showed him.

01:50I had a slight American accent, which I think protected, but it looks uncomfortably persuasive.

01:57Remember that much of this is consumed on social media.

02:00So somebody's looking at this for seven or 10 seconds.

02:04And how persuasive does it have to be over seven or 10 seconds?

02:07Probably not even that persuasive.

02:09This is something that ACT independent Senator David Pocock has been quite vocal about as

02:14well.

02:15He's also concerned that last year he actually got deep fakes made of both the Prime Minister

02:20and the opposition leader to try and prove the point about how believable they can be,

02:25but also how easily they can be made.

02:28He said it wasn't very expensive, took a few days, basically, he said just someone in his

02:32office knew a guy.

02:34So look, he is wanting action in this space and has flagged that he might try and get

02:38some sort of parliamentary debate happening on this when Parliament does resume sitting

02:43here in Canberra next fortnight.

02:46As for the government's position, they're really yet to indicate if they will make changes

02:51on this ahead of the upcoming election.

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