NATO center director: AI-tailored campaigns can influence voters' choices
Jānis Sārts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, says AI-tailored campaigns can influence voters by persuading individuals more effectively than other people.
Artificial intelligence is progressively entering election campaigns, and its role is no longer limited to spreading false information. The technology is also being used to create deepfakes and to design influence operations that adapt to individual users. As a result, voters may encounter messages that are specifically shaped to appeal to their personal views, interests and communication styles.
Jānis Sārts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, argues that such individualised campaigns, when maintained over a longer period through large language models, can be more convincing than interpersonal communication. He warns that people's behavioural patterns, ways of thinking and perception of the world are especially vulnerable to persuasion systems built on artificial intelligence.
These comments draw attention to the growing risk that AI tools could shape election outcomes by influencing voters on a personal level. Sārts' assessment suggests that societies need to pay closer attention to the ways in which AI-driven communication can interfere with democratic processes. The NATO centre he leads focuses on strategic communications and works to improve resilience against disinformation and hostile influence, which makes his warning particularly significant in the context of election security.
