With AI tools more readily available than ever before, the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office has been working to head off election disinformation that may be hard to spot. A spokesperson for the office said, while it has not seen any yet this election season, it is staying vigilant and even ramping up its efforts.
The Secretary of State’s Office has been working to combat the potential impact of AI disinformation through a public education campaign it launched in May.
“But, as early voting is starting, it’s definitely something that we want to kind of re-up and get back out there in the conversation,” said Alex Curtas, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office.
“Luckily, we haven’t seen any particular instances in New Mexico,” he said. “But we still want to make people aware and educate them as to how to spot potentially AI-manipulated media.”
Curtas said his office wants to hear from anyone who runs into this kind of misleading content online so it can investigate.
“Both something that they might think is AI-manipulated but, of course, also if people are just aware of other false information out there about the election,” he explained.
Like a rumor floating around after President Biden ended his campaign that the deadline had passed in New Mexico for Vice President Kamala Harris to appear on the ballot. The office put out a statement dispelling the misinformation and an FAQ about the state’s ballot process, which Curtas said is its “main” recourse in these situations.
That said, the state passed a law this year making it a crime punishable by jail time and fines to distribute deceptive media without a disclaimer that it was made with AI.
