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U.S. elections face more threats than ever from foreign powers due to rapid developments in artificial intelligence, the country's top intelligence official told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee during a hearing on risks to the 2024 election that the federal, state, and local officials responsible for protecting the integrity of voting are “diverse and complex.” He said he was facing threats. But she also said the federal government has “never been more prepared” to protect elections, thanks to her lessons learned since Russia tried to influence voters in 2016. .
This year, “Russia remains the most active foreign threat to our elections,” Haines said. Using a “vast multimedia influence apparatus” that includes state media, intelligence agencies, and online trolls, Russia's goals include “eroding confidence in U.S. democratic institutions, exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the U.S., and attacking Ukraine.” These include a decline in Western support for
But it's a crowded field, with China, Iran and other foreign powers also trying to sway American voters, Haines added.
He also said new AI technologies that can create realistic “deepfakes” targeting candidates, and the rise of commercial companies that allow foreign actors to launder their activities, will allow for more sophisticated and large-scale influence operations. He said that this has made identification difficult.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the committee chairman, said Wednesday's hearing was the first in a series of hearings focused on the election, in which lawmakers accused lawmakers, authorities, and others of Russian interference. The company is trying to avoid a repeat of 2016, when social media executives and social media executives were ousted. -guard.
Since then, “unfortunately, the barriers to entry for foreign negative influence have become incredibly small,” Warner said. Foreign adversaries have increasing incentives to intervene in U.S. politics to shape their own national interests, he added, while at the same time Americans' trust in institutions is eroding across the political spectrum.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the committee's top Republican, questioned how the people tasked with protecting elections would themselves be perceived in a climate of mistrust. He raised allegations of fake videos targeting himself and other candidates days before the November election.
“Who is responsible for letting people know that this is fake and this is not real?” he asked. “And I think we need to protect the credibility of whoever is making that statement so that the other side doesn't come out and say, 'Our government is interfering,' regardless of who is in charge.” I ask myself, what are you doing in the election?”
Haynes said that in some cases it makes sense for her and other federal agencies to debunk false claims, but in other cases it may be better for state and local officials to speak out. .