Some 65% of IT professionals polled said they feared AI generated fakes would affect the result – and are calling for technical and policy solutions.
And 93% of technologists said political parties should agree to publicise when and how they are using AI in their campaigns, according to the survey by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.
The two most effective measures for limiting the democratic decay of deepfakes will be public education and technical solutions (such as watermarking and labelling), the poll of 1200 technologists found.
A group of major tech companies signed a pact in February to adopt 'reasonable precautions' to prevent AI from being used to disrupt democratic elections around the world.
But only 8% of computing professionals in the BCS poll think this agreement will be effective.
Rashik Parmar MBE, Chief Executive of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT said: “Technologists are seriously worried about the impact of deepfakes on the integrity of the election – but there are things politicians can do to help the public and themselves.
“Parties should agree between them to clearly state when and how they are using AI in their campaigns.