Microsoft will deliver workshops to Oireachtas TDs Senators and staff member on AI and Deepfakes on Tuesday, 24 September 2024 in Leinster House.
Members were informed today that the workshops are part of a series organised globally by Microsoft with political parties, staff and parliamentarians as part of its support for the Munich Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections.
The Accord which has been signed by over 20 of the leading tech platforms AI companies including ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Anthropic, Inflection AI, Stability AI and ElevenLabs along with social media platforms such as X Chinese short video company TikTok, Snap and LinkedIn. Adobe, IBM, Arm, McAfee, Nota, Trend Micro and Truepic.
The companies claims to ‘acknowledge the importance of pursuing these issues with transparency about our work, without partisan interests or favouritism towards individual candidates, parties, or ideologies, and through inclusive opportunities to listen to views across civil society, academia, the private sector, and all political parties.’
The Oireachtas workshops will aim at ‘arming political leaders with a deeper understanding of what deepfakes are, how they are being used around elections, and the tools available to political organisations to mitigate the risks of deepfakes. In addition, this session will outline Microsoft’s broader work on protecting the public against abusive AI-generated content. ‘
The training, which will be delivered by Quang-Minh Lepescheux, Victoria Sarmiento and Kieran McCorry.
However, the accord has been criticised shortcomings by among others, computer scientist Dr Deepak Padmanabhan, from Queen’s University Belfast, who has co-authored a paper on elections and AI.
He told the BBC that the accord’s usefulness was undermined because it lacked nuance when it came to defining harmful content.
In Ireland, the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 criminalises some aspects of ‘deep-fake’ imagery including the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
The legislation defines “intimate image, in relation to a person to mean any visual representation (including any accompanying sound or document) made by any means including any photographic, film, video or digital representation.
Last year Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne brought forward his Private Members motion on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies. The motion referred specifically to ‘the potentially destabilising impact of the misuse of AI and deepfakes in elections and referendums.
He called for the establishment of an Oireachtas Special Select Committee on AI and Emerging Technologies during the then current Oireachtas term. This Select Committee did not materialise however.
Information on the Munich Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections can accessed here.