The Aspen Institute Inc.
01/17/2025 | News release | Archived content
The First AI Elections
In 2024, a record four billion people were eligible to vote around the world. At the same time, rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) represented serious risks to the security and information integrity of elections.
Would deep fakes of candidates sow chaos? Would AI-generated robocalls trick people into avoiding their polling places? Might AI-generated spam lead people to believe their vote would not be counted? Would this in fact be the first AI election? Just hoping for the best seemed like the least good option.
So, we at Aspen Digital set up the AI Elections Initiative to build awareness and connection among elections officials, tech companies, civil society group, and media. Our aim was to foster resilience, address challenges, and explore solutions. We brought folks together all year and cross-educated groups to be ready for whatever might come at them.
How did things shake out? The worst-case scenarios did not come to pass - at least, not at scale. Some call it "the dog that didn't bark," which isn't entirely true.
While AI did not deliver an outsized disruption, this past year laid the foundations for the future. In a new recap, our team reflects on AI's role in 2024 elections around the globe and looks ahead to the next chapter of its influence on democracy. Read our 2024 recap.