Indonesia CSOs fight “deep fake” elections

The use of AI deep-fakes in Indonesia, during the run-up to this year’s elections, is ringing alarm bells among advocates for information integrity, as they are being used for political gain. As the world watches the country’s fifth direct presidential elections, since the end of the Suharto era in 1998, it is worth taking a look at the struggle to address the downsides of this rapidly developing technology.

Over the past six months, the local and international media have dubbed this the “AI election” and are reporting the mixed concerns and responses of multiple stakeholders to the increasing and controversial use of generative AI by political parties in their campaigns.

A number of AI-generated audio and video clips have surfaced and gone viral on social media between October 2023 and January this year, mainly targeting presidential candidates.

One was an AI-generated…