New Zealand National Party admits using AI-generated people in attack ads | New Zealand

The New Zealand National Party has admitted to using artificial intelligence to generate people in its attack ads.

The ads included images of a group of robbers storming a jewelry store, two nurses of Pacific Islander descent and an apparent crime victim peering out the window. An advertisement even appeared to show the cast of the Fast and Furious franchise.

The images, showing a woman with huge eyes, two nurses with strangely plasticine skin and thieves wearing hoods with openings that do not match human features, quickly aroused suspicion.

Asked by Newshub whether the images were created by AI, party leader Christopher Luxon initially said, “I don’t know the subject matter in the sense that I’m not sure. You accuse us of using it, I’m not sure we do. I’ll have to talk to our team.

But the party later confirmed that the nurses, crime victims and thieves were the work of a computer program. “Yes, we used AI to create stock footage,” a national party spokesperson told Newshub, calling it “an innovative way to drive our social media,” and adding that the party is was “committed to using it responsibly”. The Guardian has also approached the party for comment.

While AI-generated images are increasingly sophisticated, they also often contain visual quirks: extra fingers, odd features, or distorted details, which can make portraits feel odd. However, as programs continue to improve, there are concerns that audiences will struggle to tell whether AI-created images, videos and audio recordings are real or fake – and whether political parties should be compelled to disclose their use.

In the UK, experts have raised concerns that voters could face a wave of AI-related misinformation in the upcoming election and are pushing for regulation of AI use. in political advertising. Professor Michael Wooldridge, the foundation’s AI research director at the UK’s Alan Turing Institute, told the Guardian in May it was his “number one” concern as he approached elections.

“We have elections coming up in the UK and the US and we know…generative AI can produce disinformation on an industrial scale,” he said.

The New Zealand elections are due to take place in October.

The technology has also raised concerns in the United States, after the GOP released a video attack ad using a series of AI-generated images of President Joe Biden and various computer-generated images of social collapse. .

The announcement prompted lawmaker Yvette Clarke to introduce a new bill in Congress requiring the disclosure of AI-generated content in political ads. The bill argues that “groundbreaking innovations in generative artificial intelligence” have the potential to “exacerbate and spread misinformation and misinformation at unprecedented scale and speed,” and would require political ads indicate to the public when they use AI-generated images. .

New Zealand has no laws regulating the use of AI in political advertising.