The AI Elections Accord is a voluntary agreement among leading technology companies to combat the deceptive use of AI in the 2024 elections. Recognizing the potential for AI to generate highly realistic but false content, known as deepfakes, the accord aims to protect the integrity of elections worldwide. The signatories have agreed to the following voluntary framework of principles and actions to advance seven principal goals:
- Prevention: Researching, investing in, and/or deploying reasonable precautions to limit risks of deliberately Deceptive AI Election Content being generated.
- Provenance: Attaching provenance signals to identify the origin of content where appropriate and technically feasible.
- Detection: Attempting to detect Deceptive AI Election Content or authenticated content, including with methods such as reading provenance signals across platforms.
- Responsive Protection: Providing swift and proportionate responses to incidents involving the creation and dissemination of Deceptive AI Election Content.
- Evaluation: Undertaking collective efforts to evaluate and learn from the experiences and outcomes of dealing with Deceptive AI Election Content.
- Public Awareness: Engaging in shared efforts to educate the public about media literacy best practices, in particular regarding Deceptive AI Election Content, and ways citizens can protect themselves from being manipulated or deceived by this content.
- Resilience: Supporting efforts to develop and make available defensive tools and resources, such as AI literacy and other public programs, AI-based solutions (including open-source tools where appropriate), or contextual features, to help protect public debate, defend the integrity of the democratic process, and build whole-of-society resilience against the use of Deceptive AI Election Content.
The Elections Accord seeks to set expectations for how signatories will manage the risks arising from deceptive AI election content created through their publicly accessible, large-scale platforms or open foundational models, or distributed on their large-scale social or publishing platforms in line with their own policies and practices as relevant to the commitments in the accord.
Impact and Challenges
While the AI Elections Accord represents a significant step forward, it faces challenges. Critics argue that the voluntary nature of the agreement lacks enforcement mechanisms, potentially leaving room for companies to prioritize profits over compliance. Additionally, the rapidly evolving nature of AI technology may render certain countermeasures obsolete.
Despite these challenges, the accord is seen as a crucial first step in addressing the growing threat of AI-driven election interference. By fostering collaboration among tech companies and raising public awareness, it aims to create a more resilient information ecosystem.