April 29, 2024 Open Letter: A cross-party agreement on the the responsible use of generative AI in elections Author(s): MCTD Cambridge The Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy has signed an Open Letter calling on UK political parties to form a cross-party agreement on the responsible use of generative AI. New polling from Demos, a cross-party think tank, reveals significant concern around the impact of AI-generated content and deepfakes on the next UK general election. More than six in ten people (61%) are concerned about the impact of AI-generated images, audio, and video at the next general election and more than one in five (22%) are very concerned. There is a need for political parties to The Open Letter, organised by Demos in partnership with independent fact-checking organisation FullFact, is backed by trusted organisations such as the Electoral Reform Society, British Computer Society (BCS), Witness, leading universities, and key figures including Martin Lewis, Founder and Chair of Money Saving Expert and the Money and Mental Policy Institute (MMHPI), and Wikipedia Founder, Jimmy Wales. The Open Letter calls on UK political parties to commit to four steps: Not using generative AI tools to produce materially misleading audio or visual content that might convince voters into believing something is true when it is not; Clearly labelling where generative AI is used to produce audio or visual content in a non-trivial way; Not amplifying materially misleading AI-generated content and, where appropriate and a significant risk, to be a responsible actor in calling this out in such a way that does not contribute toward further amplifying this content; Ensuring that party staff, members, volunteers and supporters are given clear guidelines for the use of generative AI in election campaigning. Professor Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, said: “Sociotechnical problems have sociotechnical fixes. This one is easy and can make a real difference. And the majority of the British public support it.” Read more about the Open Letter and download the full version.