Canadians may be surprised to learn just how widespread these attacks have become, and our elections are not immune.
The posts were nearly identical and had the familiar reek of AI.
“Just got back from Pierre Poilievre’s rally in Kirkland Lake and I’m still buzzing from the energy,” one post read. “As a northerner, it’s refreshing to see a leader who actually listens to our concerns and prioritizes our needs.”
Others claimed to have “braved the cold” to attend the event, which took place during a heat wave.
The posts, it turned out, were made by accounts in Russia, France and New Zealand, among other places.
While this amateurish attack was mostly harmless, it is a stark reminder of how commonplace AI-driven election interference has become, and why it’s so difficult to combat.
The appetite of our adversaries to influence elections in the West has grown stronger in recent years. Many Canadians may have become aware of this phenomenon in 2016, when Russia was caught meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
But Canada, like most western states, is still too vulnerable to foreign interference.
For one, misinformation attacks — even bogus ones — can sway public opinion, regardless of whether they’re caught and debunked by the authorities. In Slovakia, for example, just two days before the country’s closely contested 2023 election, an AI-generated voice recording began to circulate on social media. It depicted Michal Šimečka, leader of the country’s Progressive Slovakia party, speaking to a journalist about rigging the election. Fact-checkers debunked the clip, but not before millions heard it on Facebook and TikTok.
Jonah Prousky is a Toronto-based freelance writer and a management consultant specializing in AI.