David Pocock has raised the alarm on the risk posed to democracy by generative AI by using it to play a trick: fabricating a video of Anthony Albanese announcing a complete ban on gambling advertising.
The independent senator for Canberra posted two AI-generative videos to social media – of the prime minister and of the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, supporting a complete ban on advertising – to show how AI can be used to mimic and confuse.
“That video is fake, and there are currently no laws against making videos like that,” Pocock said.
“Deepfakes [and] generative AI pose a real risk to democracy and we need the government to ban the use of this technology when it comes to elections.”
In one video, Albanese appears to be telling a press conference at Parliament House – with slightly jerky movements of his mouth a small giveaway the video isn’t real – that he is introducing a three-year phased ban of the advertising.
In another, Dutton appears to be telling an audience that the Coalition supports the government’s legislation.
This is not true, and Pocock chose a controversial topic to mimic. The government has only committed to a partial ban on gambling advertising, which advocates have labelled “manifestly inadequate”.
The move towards a partial ban came despite a total ban being proposed in 2023, by a bipartisan committee inquiry chaired by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy.
Pocock said he made the videos to push parliament to take some action banning the use of the technology before the next election.
“I’m concerned we’re not seeing the urgency required to protect our democracy from generative AI.”
In July, an AI-generated TikTok video of the Queensland premier, Steven Miles, created by the LNP opposition, sparked a debate about the political use of deep fakes online.
The video depicted Miles dancing beneath text reading: “POV: my rent is up $60 a week, my power bill is up 20%, but the premier made a sandwich on TikTok”.
Miles claimed the video “represents a turning point for our democracy” and said the state Labor party would not use AI-generated advertisements during its upcoming election campaign.
After the release of the video, experts warned people could easily find themselves tricked by AI-generated content, and that it can be more dangerous if used more subtly.
A spokesperson for the office of Don Farrell, the special minister of state who is responsible for oversight of parliamentary affairs, said the government is considering the advice of the Australian Electoral Commission on regulating the use of AI in elections.
“This is not technology that we can stop – it’s not going away,” the spokesperson said.
“We have to find a way where Australians can have some protection from deliberately false information and content.”
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