Artificial Intelligence to Remain Deregulated in 2024 Elections

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in the 2024 presidential candidates' campaigns for advertising purposes and with this comes the risk to spread disinformation. Experts warned that because Mexico lacks regulation of AI in electoral politics, using this tool poses a risk to the country's democracy.

Mexico is the fifth country in Latin America that uses artificial intelligence the most, but has no regulation, according to IBM. Currently, AI is self-regulated worldwide through ethical principles. Jimena Moreno, Researcher, CIDE, said that the problem is that "in Mexico, we have not reached this self-regulation, but rather we are in an ungovernable situation." Moreno pointed out that, while there are sanctions against individuals for disseminating false information, there are none for biased algorithms or those that seek to influence the population, reported Animal Político.

Raúl Trejo Delarbre, Researcher, Institute of Social Research (IIS) of UNAM, stated that the current legislation has more than 15 years and, therefore, was designed for traditional media. He also stressed that for the next elections, it is a fact that AI will not be regulated, since any modification to the law must be discussed a year before the elections.

Currently, artificial intelligence is being used by candidates to generate propaganda. Examples are MORENA candidate Claudia Sheinbaum who used AI to become a trend on social networks or Frente Unido por México candidate Xóchitl Gálvez to create videos. However, AI is also being used to misinform and create fake news, reported Animal Político. One example is a video in which Gálvez tells Sheinbaum that not just any woman can be president.

Delarbe added that the lack of regulation makes Mexicans vulnerable to the content that is promoted, as there is no certainty of what is true. "We are going to have many problems with the circulation of videos and other content made by anonymous supporters. They are not going to be distributed officially by a candidate, but surreptitiously, anonymously, or hidden by users who are not going to be identifiable. This content, because of its nature, is going to go viral very quickly."

Moreno stated that this use of AI technology will create more social inequality. "The most unprotected will be the most vulnerable: women, young people and people who do not have access to technologies. If there are no transparent ethical principles in the development of algorithms, inequalities will increase at the same speed with which artificial intelligence advances. That is the great risk. The same goes for political rights and freedom of expression."

Moreno stressed that it is complicated to have a regulation, even after the elections, due to the economic interests behind it. Another problem is that the development of AI is going faster than the development of laws, which does not allow for up-to-date protection for citizens.