More than three-fourths of Americans fear abuses of artificial intelligence will affect the 2024 presidential election

Seventy-eight percent of American adults expect abuses of artificial intelligence systems (AIs) that will affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, according to a new national survey by the Elon Poll and the Imagining the Digital Future Center at Elon University. The survey finds:

• 73% of Americans believe it is “very” or “somewhat” likely AI will be used to manipulate social media to influence the outcome of the presidential election – for example, by generating information from fake accounts or bots or distorting people’s impressions of the campaign.
• 70% say it is likely the election will be affected by the use of AI to generate fake information, video and audio material.
• 62% say the election is likely to be affected by the targeted use of AI to convince some voters not to vote.
• In all, 78% say at least one of these abuses of AI will affect the election outcome. More than half think all three abuses are at least somewhat likely to occur.