UC Merced Magazine | Volume XX, Issue VI

Impacts of AI on Elections Can Be Bad... and Good

By Patty Guerra

AI also can have a positive impact by helping voters access information on how to cast ballots in their precincts. “AI can help people participate,” Ojeda said. “Participation is crucial to democracy.” Misjudgment or Malicious? AI is only as good as the information put into it. “AI can provide good information to voters, but it can also provide bad information,” Ojeda said. “ at is where it gets a little concerning.” And it doesn’t have to be nefarious, he added. “Maybe it just mischaracterizes what the candidate believes or what their background is and then I come to some conclusion.

When imagining the role of arti cial intelligence in elections, it’s easy to envision an AI-manipulated video of a candidate saying something shocking or incendiary. And that certainly has happened. But AI is also having a more subtle impact on elections. And misinformation isn’t always created by someone intentionally trying to put one over on voters — in fact, you’ve probably contributed to it. “When thinking about AI, the first thing we think about is the bad stuff,” said Christopher Ojeda, a political science professor at UC Merced. “But there are some good ways people can use AI. If you need information about candidates or about referendums or issues on the ballot, there’s no reason why you couldn’t turn to ChatGPT or Google Gemini to provide you with good information.”

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