The candidate of Frente Amplio for the Presidency of the Government, Ada Colau, has urged her counterpart from the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, and the candidate of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, to commit to not resorting to Artificial Intelligence (AI) with humiliating objectives against the political opponent.
Along with this proposal for an agreement, Colau has also advocated for regulating the use of this technology during electoral campaign periods in the future.
"Politicians and policies have the responsibility to set an example before society with what we do and say, especially in electoral campaigns," the electoral reference of Frente Amplio has pointed out in a letter sent to the other three candidates, in which she conveys her proposal for the campaign of the elections on November 29.
Colau admits that she is "very concerned" about the proliferation on social networks of videos generated with AI and, for this reason, she proposes this "simple" initiative, based on a "firm" commitment to "not use and not promote the humiliating use of AI in general" and, in particular, against political rivals.
The former mayor of Barcelona acknowledges that their respective parties hold "very different positions on artificial intelligence, its dangers, limits, and potentials or the regulation it requires," but she considers it key to seal a pact that allows addressing this technology under shared ethical criteria.
"What do we tell the women humiliated by deep fakes?"
"It seems to me that it is a minimum that sends a clear signal to society. How are we going to tell our sons and daughters not to use AI to impersonate the identities of their classmates when that becomes a common use in electoral campaigns? How will the women humiliated by sexual content deep fakes feel when they see their political leaders using similar techniques to insult each other?" Colau has questioned in her letter.
In this line, she has called for developing a campaign based on "ideas," with "even harsh confrontations in tone," but respecting certain limits. Moreover, she has emphasized that it is necessary to decide whether we want the public space to be "governed by cruelty and digital violence" or by "shared rules of the game."
"It is not necessary to humiliate or lie to convince"
"We do not need to humiliate and lie to convince," emphasized the candidate from Frente Amplio, warning that the use of AI against the political opponent could set a "very dangerous precedent."
For this reason, she demands that legislation be enacted regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence in electoral campaigns, something she believes will inevitably come sooner rather than later. As long as that framework does not exist, she appeals for political forces to commit to "fair play" during the electoral contest.
"It is possible to reach an agreement with the set of political forces to expel humiliating AI and identity impersonation from the political life of our country. It would be something that society as a whole would receive as good news," Colau concluded in her letter.