Election Commission cautions parties against misuse of AI deepfakes in Bihar elections

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed political parties to refrain from misusing artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools to create deepfakes that distort information or spread misinformation on social media platforms.

“Further, all political parties and their leaders, candidates, and star campaigners shall take necessary measures for prominent labelling of AI-generated/synthetic content, if any, being shared for campaigning through their social media platforms or in the form of advertisements using clear notations such as ‘AI-Generated’, ‘Digitally Enhanced’, or ‘Synthetic Content’,” the ECI said in a statement.

A strict watch is being kept on social media posts to ensure that the election atmosphere is not vitiated. The Commission has made elaborate arrangements for effective implementation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) guidelines, warning that any violation would be dealt with firmly.

“As per provision of MCC, criticism of other parties when made shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record and work. Parties and candidates shall refrain from criticism of all aspects of private life not connected with the public activities of the leaders or workers of other parties. Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided,” the statement said.

The ECI will deploy about 8.5 lakh officials to ensure transparent elections in Bihar. “The personnel to be deployed include nearly 4.53 lakh polling personnel, 2.5 lakh police officials, 28,370 counting personnel, 17,875 micro-observers for polling, 9,625 sector officers, 4,840 micro-observers for counting, and up to 90,712 Anganwadi Sevikas,” it said.

In a first, one General Observer has been deployed for each of the 243 constituencies in Bihar to function as the eyes and ears of the Commission. In addition, 38 Police Observers and 67 Expenditure Observers have also been assigned.