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Like a double-edged sword, advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) hold both promising capabilities and risks that could negatively impact many sectors, particularly in political aspects. In the electoral context, AI holds the promise of enhancing the electoral process by improving security, reliability, and efficiency, making elections more fair, inclusive, and accessible. Yet, it also poses significant challenges, particularly in the political information environment, where it may erode trust in democratic institutions and procedures.
This duality underscores the need to understand both the capabilities and risks of AI, especially among election management bodies (EMBs).
To address this, International IDEA is conducting the AI Literacy for Electoral Actors, a series of executive trainings for EMBs, civil society, and media representatives. These workshops aim to foster literacy on AI technologies while raising awareness about their human rights implications and ethical considerations in the context of elections.
From November 18–20, 2024, the Head of the Department of Politics and Social Change, Arya Fernandes, and our associate researcher, Alia Yofira Karunian, had the opportunity to participate in the first of five workshops in Kuala Lumpur. Each workshop is tailored to highlight the context-specific impact of AI. In this first workshop, the training covered the following topics:
- Basics of AI
- AI Ethics and Human Rights
- Human Rights and AI
- How AI Can Be Used to Influence Elections
- How Electoral Management Bodies Can Use AI
- AI Legislation and Regulation
Representing our organization, Alia Yofira Karunian presented on two critical topics:
- AI Ethics & Human Rights
In this session, Alia discussed the key principles of human rights-centered ethical AI, emphasizing common biases in AI systems, their sources, and examples from the Asia-Pacific region. She explored how AI development and usage can impact human rights, particularly marginalized and vulnerable groups, and highlighted how AI can exacerbate existing inequalities, especially in gender equality.
- AI Legislation & Regulation
Alia also discussed the broader regulatory climate surrounding AI, specifically in the context of elections, to help understand how the Electoral Management Bodies’ work might be affected by these regulations.
As the first workshop concludes, we hope it will serve as the first step in fostering AI literacy, raising awareness of its human rights implications, and promoting ethical considerations in the context of elections. Ultimately, this will better prepare stakeholders to approach the use of AI in elections, with a specific focus on democratic governance, human rights, and improving electoral processes, particularly for marginalized communities.