Did AI Influence the Election Result? Experts' Verdicts

By Carine Harb, Associate Editor, My Turn. Newsweek. Nov 20, 2024.

The 2024 U.S. presidential election has reignited discussions on the use of AI, with some experts believing that AI-generated content played a direct role in shaping narratives.

At a recent summit in London, experts discussed the impact of artificial intelligence on politics and the battle against misinformation. Elizabeth Dubois, a professor at the University of Ottawa, highlighted how new technologies, including AI and social media, can influence electoral systems.

She noted that figures like Elon Musk and platforms like X—formerly Twitter—have played roles in spreading conspiracies about Trump and Harris.

A particular incident involved Musk sharing a manipulated video on X, which he owns, in July 2024, which used AI to mimic Harris's voice. The video closely resembled a genuine campaign ad but featured AI-generated audio falsely portraying Harris.

Musk initially shared the video without indicating it was a parody, leading to concerns about AI's potential to spread misinformation in politics. He later clarified that the video was intended as satire.

Earlier in the year, Trump shared a fabricated image on his social media platform, Truth Social, falsely depicting Swift endorsing him for the upcoming election. This image, created using AI, showed Swift in patriotic attire with a caption urging votes for Trump, despite her known support for Democratic candidates.

Due to the rapid removal of such misleading content by social media platforms and the evolving nature of online information, direct links to these specific AI-generated materials are not available.

However, following Trump's recent victory, Republican officials have declared U.S. elections fair and free.

To better understand the implications of such incidents on election integrity, Newsweek sought expert opinions on the evolving risks posed by AI technologies in shaping public perceptions.

Although U.S. voters worried about the use of AI in the election, their fears appear to have been unwarranted. Although deepfakes and AI were used, this was a drop in the bucket compared to other disinformation that's routinely disseminated.

The larger concern is that many say their main news source is social media. Americans should be concerned about the way AI algorithms manipulate social media to create echo chambers that feed readers' prejudices back to them and heighten their fears. This leads to a less informed public and undermines the democratic process. We should all be concerned.

Andrew Selepak, Ph.D., Department of Media Production, Management, and Technology

Artificial Intelligence had little impact on the 2024 election, we think. There were a handful of uses of deepfakes during the election, some of which included an AI-generated voice of Joe Biden asking primary voters in New Hampshire in January to wait until the general election to vote for him, Donald Trump sharing AI images of Taylor Swift endorsing him, and AI images of Donald Trump holding dogs and cats, artificial intelligence.

While it is possible that AI content was being distributed in messaging apps, particularly among non-native voters, there is no evidence that this was widespread or had any impact on the election.

However, AI did have an important role in the election. It allowed campaigns to engage in social listening to learn what voters were saying on social media, summarize news content, and create social media and email messages quickly and cheaply. But, this didn't impact the election so much as it made the campaign process cheaper, faster, and easier for campaign staff.

Despite claims and predictions that 2024 was going to be the AI election, it had little impact and even the use of AI content created by foreign governments like Russia did little more than motivate the already motivated.

I believe that 2026 and 2028 may be different as AI technology becomes more widespread and