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Navigating AI’s impact on Indonesia's elections
It is crucial for governments to ensure that technological advancements, particularly in the realm of AI, align with the core values of their citizens, such as equality.
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Monetizing the vote: Employees of a T-shirt printing company pack their customers’ orders for shipment at Senen Market in Central Jakarta on Dec. 12, 2023. Several traders say their sales have increased threefold ahead of the February 2024 elections. (Antara/Mario Sofia Nasution)
As Indonesia gears up for the 2024 elections, the ubiquitous rise of technologies like ChatGPT has thrust artificial intelligence (AI) into the public consciousness. Yet, while we recognize that AI potentially aids humans in their work, how many of us are aware that AI is also able to influence the outcome of elections in democracies by manipulating voters’ decisions?
Researchers warn of AI's social costs, particularly how it might erode trust in democratic institutions, owing to Big Nudging, microtargeting, deepfakes, algorithmic bias, unexplainable AI, cyberattacks, and digital gerrymandering. In this narrative, Cambridge Analytica is one of the most prominent examples and vividly illustrates AI's potential misuse of elections.
A few years ago, this firm illicitly gathered data from over 50 Facebook friends of individuals who participated in tests initially conducted for academic purposes, which they then used to craft targeted political propaganda. This manipulation was suspected of playing a role in several significant global political events, including Brexit, the United States elections and the Philippine elections.
What role did AI play in this narrative? AI's involvement was pivotal in two key aspects: data analysis and targeted persuasion.
By analyzing vast amounts of social media data, AI algorithms developed detailed user profiles, capturing individual interests and susceptibilities. Leveraging this information, AI then guided the crafting and timing of personalized propaganda, utilizing natural language processing and predictive analytics for maximal impact. This targeted approach, as revealed by an ex-Cambridge Analytica employee, enabled the precise delivery of persuasive messages, shifting from broad advertising to micro-targeted strategies that effectively swayed public opinion toward specific political agendas.
As its very philosophical foundation, democracy hinges on the principle of equal participation in decision-making. This foundation is at risk when citizens lose their autonomy in political participation and are unable to make independent and reflective decisions. The Cambridge Analytica incident serves as a stark example of this threat, where individuals were subtly manipulated into making specific political choices, undermining the core tenets of democratic autonomy and deliberative decision-making.
The rapid advancement of AI is inevitable. As AI evolves, it becomes more adept at learning from smaller datasets with increased precision. This advancement coincides with our growing reliance on technology, resulting in the collection of more detailed personal information, which in turn feeds these AI systems. Thus, robust data-protection measures become crucial.
