VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — With Election 2024 just beginning, voters in Virginia Beach told News 3 they have concerns about Artificial Intelligence, or AI.
"I don't like it," said Ruth Turpin, a voter. "I don't trust it. It can be manipulated in any way that they want to manipulate it."
"It's very important that we don't take somebody at their word that we still go out and research," said Georgia F. Allen, another voter.
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To get an understanding of how easy it is to use AI, a News 3 reporter downloaded an app, paid a few bucks, and plugged their voice into a script.
Within a few minutes, an AI-generated voice of the reporter was available.
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Experts are warning about the potential impact of AI on elections this year.
Earlier this year, someone created a robocall reportedly using AI to make it sound like Joe Biden was calling New Hampshire voters. Since then, the Federal Communications Commission has made using AI voices in robocalls illegal.
"There [are] a lot of fake images and video content being produced," said Carah Ong Whaley, the Director of Election Protection at Issue One, an organization working to ensure free and fair elections.
"Audio is the area of greatest concern," she said.
Whaley is also a lecturer at the University of Virginia and taught a class this year about AI.
"One of the things that we discovered in our process was that many policymakers didn't have a good understanding of what artificial intelligence tools are," said Whaley.
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Her students recommended lawmakers create a commission to look into issues and make recommendations when needed related to AI.
They went to Richmond to advocate for the law, which the governor has now approved.
Currently, though, it can be tough to regulate AI. If there are bad actors in other countries, that can lead to enforcement issues.
"I think that's kind of a key challenge we have," said Whaley. "We can increase the regulation, which we need to consider and do, but we also need to be thinking about: What are the enforcing mechanisms?"
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There are also services and companies people can use to detect AI.
One of them is called Copyleaks, which examines text to determine if AI is being used.
"It's very important to be aware of the different solutions that are out there at this point and scrutinize what it is that you're reading," said Alon Yamin, the CEO and co-founder of Copyleaks.
Yamin said the best thing to know heading into the fall is that AI is being used.
"I think first and foremost, be aware," said Yamin. "It's important to talk about it and make sure as many people understand that nowadays, AI content is everywhere."
