Truth in the age of AI

This is part of a series of primers on current affairs and issues in the news, and what they mean for Singapore.

- Lee Li Ying

In today's world, artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the way we live, work and play. Algorithms power our social media feeds, and bots can make our work more efficient.

AI is the ability of machines to think and act like humans by learning, solving problems, and making decisions.

With its ability to process and analyze vast amounts of data in seconds, AI has become a powerful tool in sectors like healthcare, finance and banking, manufacturing and supply chains.

But as AI proliferates, it is also silently causing seismic changes in how we understand what is true and what is not.

The digital world is seeing an explosion of synthetic content that muddies the line between truth and fiction, which can have serious implications for important events such as elections.

Deepfakes—hyper-realistic videos created using deep learning—are perhaps the most high-profile example of this.

A 2022 deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urging his troops to surrender during the Russia-Ukraine war was widely circulated before being debunked. The minute-long video briefly sowed confusion and panic.

In 2024, during India's general election, political parties "resurrected" deceased leaders and used deepfake avatars to influence voters. For instance, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, who died in 2018, appeared in AI-generated videos endorsing his son's political run.

In Britain, more than 100 deepfake videos featuring then British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ran as ads on Facebook before the 2024 election. The ads appeared to be viewed by 400,000 in a month, and payments for the ads originated overseas.

When voters see such manipulated videos making controversial or false statements, it can damage reputations or sway opinions—even after the deepfake is debunked.