20 Tech Companies Including Microsoft, Meta, Google, OpenAI Join Hands To Combat AI Deepfakes
Some of the biggest names in the tech industry have come together to combat the threat posed by artificial intelligence and deepfakes in the crucial election year.
A group of 20 20 leading tech companies Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, IBM, Adobe, chip designer Arm, Artificial intelligence startups OpenAI, Anthropic and Stability AI?and social media companies such as Snap, TikTok and X on?Friday announced a joint commitment to combat AI misinformation in this year¡¯s elections.
The threat of deepfakes
The announcement was made at the Munich Security Conference and the industry is specifically targeting deepfakes, which can use deceptive audio, video, and images to mimic key stakeholders in democratic elections or to provide false voting information.
In a blog post, Microsoft noted that "new generative AI tools make it possible to create realistic and convincing audio, video, and images that fake or alter the appearance, voice, or actions of people."
What makes deepfakes dangerous?
What makes these AI-generated content, also called deepfakes, particularly a matter of concern is that they are easy and cheap to create, but have a much bigger impact, especially among the not-so-tech savvy social media users.
As AI technology advances rapidly and now life-like videos and photos can be generated with a few text prompts, the threats they pose have also reached an all-time high.
Deepfakes can impact elections
This has been exacerbated by the fact that over 40 countries across the world are having elections in 2024.
There is a growing fear that AI-generated deepfakes can be used to spread political misinformation.
What tech companies are doing?
According to the ¡°Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections,¡± the tech companies have agreed to commitments like developing and implementing technology to mitigate risks related to deceptive AI Election content, including open-source tools where appropriate and assessing models in scope of this accord to understand the risks they may present regarding ¡®Deceptive AI Election Content¡¯.
The accord addresses this content abuse through specific commitments:
By making it more difficult for bad actors to use legitimate tools to create deepfakes.
Bringing the tech sector together to detect and respond to deepfakes in elections.
Helping advance transparency and build societal resilience to deepfakes in elections.
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