Taylor Swift gets it, says watchdog: AI deepfakes are a danger to democracy

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen on Wednesday applauded pop star Taylor Swift for using her platform and her endorsement of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race to go beyond simply expressing support for the Democratic candidate—choosing instead to also call attention to artificial intelligence and how it's been used to spread misinformation.

"Recently I was made aware that AI of 'me' falsely endorsing Donald Trump's presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation," wrote Swift in an Instagram post announcing her endorsement of Harris.

Swift was referring to a false AI-generated image, known as a deepfake, that showed the singer-songwriter's likeness dressed as Uncle Sam with the caption, "Taylor Wants You to Vote for Donald Trump." Trump shared the image on his Truth Social account in August, along with fake images of people appearing to wear shirts that read, "Swifties for Trump."

The images were shared days after the Federal Election Commission's Republican chair, Sean Cooksey, had announced the agency would not establish new rules to prohibit political candidates or groups from misrepresenting opponents or issues with deceptive images.

Cooksey had said the FEC wanted to wait and see "how AI is actually used on the ground before considering any new rules"—a decision Public Citizen denounced as "shameful."

On Wednesday, Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert noted that the way AI and deepfakes can and will be used has already been made clear, partially by Swift's experience.

"Taylor Swift—who has been a victim of both AI-generated election misinformation and AI-generated non-consensual intimate deepfakes—is correct in identifying the immensely damaging harms that could result from the spread of AI misinformation, including abuses of our elections."

In addition to the images shared by Trump, billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a Trump supporter, posted on social media a deepfake video that showed a manipulated image of Harris.

"The need for federal regulations to address this type of misinformation and prevent AI deepfakes from upending our elections and undermining our democracy," said Gilbert, "has never been more urgent."