Americans need Sign out. Take it out. Shoot the TV. It seems impossible. Less than five days from Election Day in the US, most people can’t help but check the news—or TikTok or X—at least once a day. Swipe, refresh, repeat. On Tuesday, the connection will be unchanged. Psychologically, political stress takes a toll. Given that anxiety can be exacerbated by uncertainty, the 2024 election feels more dire than ever. There is a reason for that.
I’m not just saying the usual things are falling apart—Facebook militants organizing ballot box assignments, conspiracy theory purveyors, cybercriminals who might be waiting in the wings. Another version of those nerve-janglers has been around for years. Now, however, there’s something new that’s raising users’ blood pressure as they scroll: Fake AI.
American voters are obviously worried about how inaccurate information can affect the winner of the election, but Sander van der Linden, the author of the book. Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Defensesnotes that the concerns surrounding AI may be overwhelming. “If you look at the problem from a negative point of view, such as sowing doubt and chaos, confusion, undermining the democratic discourse, reducing trust in the electoral process, and confusing the fickle electorate,” he said. “I think we’re headed for a big risk”—fueling the country’s isolation and ending the level of debate.
According to an American Psychological Association survey released last week, 77 percent of American adults feel depressed about the future of the country. It gets worse. Sixty-nine percent of adults polled said the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a cause of “a lot of stress”—a figure up from 52 percent in 2016, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. About three-quarters of the respondents thought that the election would cause violence; more than half are worried it could be “the end of democracy in the US.”
Christ.
On top of all this sits the threat of AI-generated lies. For more than a year, researchers have warned of election fraud from artificial intelligence. Besides voting, such disinformation has contributed to the Israel-Hamas war and the war in Ukraine. 404 Media called Hurricane Helene’s aftermath “an era of ‘fuck it’ AI-generated slop.” (In fact) fake news is everywhere. Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum released a report that said AI disinformation is one of the biggest short-term threats facing the world. Bad election information and fake photos can also generate serious income for X users, according to a BBC report this week.