Gail Huntley recognised the gravelly voice of Joe Biden as soon as she picked up the phone one day in January. Huntley, a 73-year-old resident of New Hampshire, was planning to vote for the president in the state's upcoming primary, so she was confused that a pre-recorded message from him was urging her not to.
"It's important that you save your vote for the November election," the message said. "Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again."
Huntley quickly realised the call was fake, but assumed Biden's words had been taken out of context. She was shocked when it became clear that the recording was AI-generated. Within weeks the US had outlawed robocalls that use voices generated by AI.
The Biden deepfake was the first major test for governments, tech companies and civil society groups, who are all locked in heated debate over how best to police an information ecosystem in which anyone can create photo-realistic images of candidates, or replicate their voices with frightening accuracy.
Citizens of dozens of countries including the US, India and most likely the UK - will go to the polls in 2024, and experts say the democratic process is at serious risk of being disrupted by artificial intelligence.
Watchdogs are warning that with more than 40,000 layoffs at the tech companies that host and moderate much of this content, digital media is uniquely vulnerable to exploitation.
Mission impossible?
For Biden, concerns about the potential dangerous uses of AI were expedited after he watched the latest Mission Impossible movie. Over a weekend at Camp David, the president viewed the film, which sees Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt face down a rogue AI.
The deputy White House chief of staff, Bruce Reed, said that if Biden hadn't already been concerned about what could go wrong with AI, "he saw plenty more to worry about" after watching the movie.
Denne historien er fra March 01, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra March 01, 2024-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.
