On 18 December 2023 — about four months before the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections — Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a real-time artificial intelligence-based tool—‘Bhashini’—during his address at Kashi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi – his parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Modi referred to the technology a ‘new beginning’ in simplifying his communication with the public. ‘Bhashini’ was tailored to serve the Tamil-speaking audience specifically during the event in Varanasi. It operates as an AI-driven language translation system facilitating conversations among individuals speaking different Indian languages.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) helped political parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, navigate India’s 22 official languages and thousands of regional dialects in the run-up to the 2024 general elections, according to ‘Global Elections & AI Tracker & Policy Paper’ launched in the national capital this past weekend. Global think tank – Future Shift Labs – created and manages the tracker.
50 million Robocalls
The AI was used to create funny or misleading images and videos targeting opponents, boost politicians’ images, bring back popular figures to support one party, and spread false stories about rivals during political campaigning.
In fact, in the two months leading up to the general elections held in April-June 2024, over 50 million robocalls were made using this AI technology, the policy paper titled ‘The Pervasive Influence of AI on Global Political Campaigns in 2024’ said.
The numbers have been sourced from a story in Wired, a bi-monthly American magazine. “More than 50 million AI-generated voice clone calls were made in the two months leading up to the start of the elections in April—and millions more will be made during voting,” one of the country’s largest business messaging operators told WIRED.
The policy paper’s three authors are Alisha Butala, a policy analyst from Future Shift Labs; Christopher Nehring, director of intelligence at the Cyber Intelligence Institute in Frankfurt, Germany; and Mateusz Łabuz,a researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg.
Robocalls are automated phone calls that deliver pre-recorded messages to many people. In February last year, months before the US Elections (November 2024), the President Joe Biden-led US administration banned AI-generated robocalls amid a rise in invoice cloning incidents that have scammed thousands of citizens in the country.
In India too, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Government of India’s regulatory body on telecommunication, escalated its campaign against spam and robocalls by instructing all telecom companies to report data on unregistered telemarketers based on consumer complaints from April to June -2-24, according to a report by The Economic Times.
The AI meter displayed on the tracker represents the level of AI involvement in the electoral process of India and other countries. It is determined based on factors such as AI-driven political campaigns, misinformation detection, deepfake influence, regulatory measures, and overall digital integration in elections. A higher percentage indicates a greater role of AI in shaping election-related activities, from voter outreach to security measures.
‘Rahul Gandhi Swearing as PM’
The tracker lists AI instances in political campaigning, including BJP functionaries sharing AI-generated audio and images of Arvind Kejriwal singing in jail. Kejriwal was in jail before the Lok Sabha elections in connection with the Delhi Liquor Scam.
It also lists the instances in which AI was used to resurrect dead Indian politicians, including former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, one of India’s longest-serving legislators who helmed the state of Tamil Nadu for nearly two decades. Karunanidhi died in 2018.
In another incident, an AI-generated voice clone of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is viral on the internet, where he can be heard swearing in as the Prime Minister of India.
Meme Culture
“One major trend observable in India is using AI in meme culture. People will likely use AI to create and share satirical images and videos. Memes can spread messages, including misinformation, and make extreme behaviours seem normal through humour. Incorporating AI helps create “eye-catching content” to engage voters and stay aligned with evolving social media trends. These trends also refer to the official campaigns conducted by political parties, which gradually enhances the aggressivity of messaging,” the paper reads.
The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 were held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1. The result was declared on June 4.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a third consecutive term after the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 293 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Modi became the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to come to power in India for three straight terms.
The paper, based on a conversation with an expert, highlighted various ways in which AI has been employed to address the distinct needs of the Indian electorate. One prominent example was the use of personalized video messaging. Given India’s vast array of constituencies, each with its own unique local issues, AI was harnessed to create targeted messages that specifically addressed these concerns.
The paper said this allowed candidates to directly engage with voters by focusing on topics that were most relevant to their region, making the campaign messages more engaging and impactful.
The report says that political parties use AI to create fake audio, propaganda images, and parodies.
AI has transformed the political landscape, enabling unprecedented voter engagement but also raising concerns about misinformation.
“Already in 2020, Manoj Tiwari, an Indian politician, serving as a member of parliament used deepfake videos of himself for advertising purposes. His original speech was altered, so the video deepfake presented him speaking a dialect of Hindi and allowed him to reach an unspecified number of citizens, normally excluded from the discourse due to linguistic diversity,” the report reads.