Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
We live right now in a climate where we are highly vulnerable to some form of artificial intelligence attack on our democracy, given the advent of AI and given the fragile nature of our democracy.
Our nation, our democracy, is highly vulnerable to some form of cyber attack that could alter voting or turnout in the key precincts in these few states. Fake messages, microtargeting about the time, place and manner of voting in a particular precinct could alter the outcome in a key swing state. AI only exacerbates that threat. The threat is more serious now. Generative AI and deepfakes are part of a larger threat to micro-target voters.
— Jeh Johnson, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who now serves as a partner at Paul, Weiss, in comments given during the New York City Bar Association’s day-long Artificial Intelligence Institute, on the dangers that artificial intelligence could pose in the upcoming 2024 election. Johnson went on to say that while there may be no “silver bullet” to solve this problem, he believes that lawyers could help. “Maybe we should have a CLE requirement that lawyers teach a class in high school about our Constitution, about separation of powers, about the rule of law,” he said. “I believe lawyers have a special responsibility to our democracy in that regard.”
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
