The European Union (EU) has taken decisive action to address the potential risks of artificial intelligence (AI) to elections, including the threat of deepfakes. On Thursday, under the authority of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Commission questioned TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, Google, YouTube, Snapchat, and Bing about their strategies to mitigate these risks.
The Commission is particularly interested in the steps these platforms are taking to reduce the use of generative AI. The Commission stated, "such as so-called ‘hallucinations’ where AI provides false information, the viral dissemination of deepfakes, as well as the automated manipulation of services that can mislead voters".
In addition to this, the Commission has launched a formal investigation against Chinese internet retailer AliExpress for suspected multiple violations of the DSA. These alleged breaches include the sale of illegal medicines and dietary supplements, and failure to prevent minors from accessing pornography.
Furthermore, the Commission has queried Microsoft's professional social network, LinkedIn, about the use of users' personal information for targeted advertising.
The formal requests for information sent to these platforms, including LinkedIn, do not necessarily imply further action. Any subsequent steps will depend on the information obtained.
However, the formal probe against AliExpress empowers Brussels to delve into the platform's internal documents and processes, and to gather testimony. Depending on the outcome, such action could expose the company to DSA fines of up to six per cent of a platform's global turnover, or even a ban in severe cases.
European Commission officials have expressed concerns about the potential use of generative AI to influence voting in the upcoming June EU elections. "We want to equip ourselves and we want to equip the platforms and alert the platforms to really be best prepared for all sorts of incidents that might come our way with regard to the upcoming elections, in particular, of course, the EP (European Parliament) election," one official told journalists.
This announcement came a day after the European Parliament voted to adopt a new law aimed at curbing abuses of artificial intelligence. This legislation will come into effect once it has been formally ratified by EU member countries.