Malicious use of artificial intelligence in political campaigns: Challenges for international psychological security for the next decades

Abstract

The generalization of Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) use in the following decades will create huge pressure on the voters’ mental security. The frequency of political campaigns—predominantly electoral—and globalization makes us face a real universalized political campaign, in which territorial boundaries matter less. AI has a rapidly increasing impact on how citizens seek, receive, impart, and access information in political campaigns and elections, especially through online platforms and social media networks. These platforms use AI as part of highly complex and opaque systems to curate content, resulting in a significant impact on freedom of expression. A wise legislator must understand that the strength of AI can collide with the reasoning processes of people, leading to serious disorders of the psyche—both individually and in groups—that can create dangerous behaviors in public space, disrupting important levels of society. Thus, it becomes necessary to study the effects that the malicious use of artificial intelligence will have on the psychology of people, as well as the general security of society and states, with the goal of creating a new international and national legal framework to prevent and sanction any AI use that is outside the moral limits stipulated by that framework.