Artificial Intelligence poses imminent threat to elections | Letters

Artificial Intelligence is really scary in so many different dimensions. U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-New York, has introduced legislation attempting to affect the horrendous negative impact of AI manipulation fraud on the 2024 elections.

I am not trying to minimize really important issues like the debt limit, budget items, abortion, southern border security, etc.  However, unlike those issues, which are highly visible, AI and cyber security present uncontrolled uncertainty and glaring opportunities for extreme mischief with seismic consequences.

Since politicians typically claim to want all elections to be fraud free, democratic, and not tainted, shouldn’t AI election legislation be a straightforward bipartisan effort with the utmost urgency? It will be interesting to see if Clarke's legislation gets any traction with many co-sponsors (hopefully, including my representative Greg Landsman), which organizations or individuals denounce or embrace it, and if it might reach the U.S. Supreme Court over the First Amendment.

Remember, AI can be manipulated by national as well as international individuals and groups, and it can be done very cheaply and easily with sophisticated technology already available and in use.

I am a technology nerd and realize that there are no silver bullets to eliminate the AI problem before the 2024 election and beyond. But we must use all possible resources to at least recognize, publicize and minimize the impact. Democratic elections and results are at stake, and election interference is merely the tip of the AI iceberg.

Tom Ohren lives in Amberley Village.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Artificial Intelligence poses imminent threat to elections | Letters