CDT Report Casts New Light on Global Civil Space Responses to AI in Elections
| |
 |
Graphic for CDT report, entitled “Adaptation and Innovation: The Civic Space Response to AI-Infused Elections.” Illustration of a transparent ballot box, surrounded by a swirling “information environment” of papers, social media posts, and ballots, hovering above earth. Ominous digital thunderstorms (clouds and lightning) float around the ballot box.
|
|
Following 2024’s wave of elections around the world, experts were left with a nagging question: to what extent did AI actually affect these contests? In a new report, "Adaptation and Innovation: The Civic Space Response to AI-Infused Elections," CDT examines how civic space actors around the world tackled the threat of AI-generated dis- and mis-information. From Mexico to Taiwan, our research showed how AI complicates the democratic process while also offering powerful new tools to support resilience-building efforts.
From a global perspective, common themes emerge: Organizations benefited from complementary or collaborative work with peer groups, while creatively using AI to bolster their own efforts. Civic space actors contended with funding and capacity constraints, insufficient access to information held by AI developers, challenges verifying AI-generated content, and the politicization of media resilience work, including fact-checking.
Based on those findings, the report lays out actionable steps for civil society, AI developers, and other actors to contribute to a resilient information environment.
AI's role in elections is only going to grow — and in the years to come, civic space actors will continue to play a critical role in helping ordinary voters navigate an increasingly complicated information environment. CDT is excited to help organizations around the world share what they learn as they navigate a quickly changing landscape.
| |
 |
Graphic for CDT report, entitled “Building A Disability-Inclusive AI Ecosystem.” Illustration with a mainframe computer, surrounded by web browser windows showing persons with disabilities in different contextual data systems, and data blocks. Top to bottom, left to right: person in a blue shirt wearing headphones; person in an orange shirt; person in a green shirt wearing a NJ tube; person in a purple shirt with a limb difference.
|
|
— CDT spoke out against the political firings of the Democratic Commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission, underscoring the impact for American consumers as the Commission becomes the latest in a trend of partisan firings at the independent agencies that protect American workers, voters, and consumers. A group of more than 25 public interest groups urged Congress to act.
— CDT also spoke out against the reported closure of the Department of Homeland Security’s Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Office, warning that gutting an office tasked with transparency and oversight dramatically amplifies the risk of misconduct and abuse.
— CDT filed comments with the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy as it develops its AI Action Plan, recommending that the plan include several important elements protecting core American principles, and building on well-established best practices to advance trustworthy, effective AI.
— CDT also filed comments with the FCC regarding the recently reinstated complaint alleging that CBS committed “news distortion” in its coverage of the 2024 presidential election. We noted that common editing techniques are protected by the First Amendment and don't constitute news distortion. We also expressed concerns, in our comments and in a letter with other civil society organizations, with a troubling pattern of recent FCC actions that threaten to erode long-established safeguards for editorial independence and free expression.
— A new CDT report recommends best practices for ensuring that people with disabilities can access the benefits of AI and algorithmic technologies without facing undue risks, particularly in the context of several major systems: employment, education, government benefits, information and communications technology, healthcare, transportation, and the criminal legal system.
— In response to an announcement from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that it would review the entirety of its election work, we called for the agency to provide clear communication regarding which programs it plans to continue. CISA has thus far declined to make details of its review public, though cuts have been reportedly made to two important CISA cybersecurity initiatives relied upon by state and local election officials.
— New research from CDT and Coworker.org found that, after discussions of workplace surveillance, overwhelming majorities of participating workers strongly supported meaningful transparency and limitations on workplace surveillance and data collection.
— CDT and 20 other civil society organizations called on the Director of National Intelligence to support enhanced transparency regarding national security surveillance.
| |
— CDT’s Tim Harper, CDT’s Senior Policy Analyst for Elections and Democracy, was quoted by The New Yorker on possible cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency: “Without transparency on the agency’s plans, [states] are left scrambling to prepare for upcoming elections. If CISA is abandoning them, election officials deserve to know—keeping them in the dark only helps bad actors.”
— CDT’s Elizabeth Laird, Director of CDT’s Equity in Civic Technology program, discussed government use of AI by government with the Washington Post as DOGE gains access to an unprecedented quantity of sensitive government data.
— Time and Techdirt cited concerns that CDT and other civil society organizations have with the TAKE IT DOWN Act, currently being considered by Congress.
| |
 | Event graphic for CDT's 2025 Spring Fling, in bright blue and purple block text. Illustration of two tulips, yellow and purple, on top of a watercolor background.
|
|
CDT "In-Person"
— CDT is pleased to announce our third annual Spring Fling, a celebration that will take place during IAPP’s Global Privacy Summit. Join us on Tuesday, April 22, from 8–10:30 PM at Dirty Habit in Washington, D.C. — you won’t want to miss it!
— Don’t miss the latest episode of CDT’s podcast, Tech Talks. In this episode, CDT’s Greg Nojeim discusses the recent attacks on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), a key independent government surveillance watchdog, and the potential impacts it could have on privacy and security.
| |
Partner Spotlight
CDT is proud to feature our partners' contributions to our research project examining the civic space response to AI and elections in 2024. Laura Zommer is the co-founder and CEO of Factchequeado, a nonprofit organization that fights against information gaps and disinformation in Spanish that affect Latino and Hispanic communities in the United States. She is also a member of CDT's Advisory Council. Kian Vesteinsson is senior research analyst for democracy and technology at Freedom House. He has written and managed research for several editions of Freedom on the Net, Freedom House's annual report on global internet freedom. You can learn more about Laura's and Kian's research on their websites.
| |
 |
Tim Harper, smiling with a blue jacket, white shirt and blue tie, in front of city building background.
|
| Staff Spotlight
Tim Harper, Senior Policy Analyst, Elections and Democracy
How long have you been working in digital rights?
I’ve been working in democracy and elections policy for about 12 years, and digital rights has been a growing focus of this work for the last 9 or so, beginning during the 2016 election cycle when foreign interference really elevated the focus on digital platforms.
What is your proudest moment while here at CDT?
Last year, I co-authored a report with my colleagues Ariana Aboulafia and Isabel Linzer, which investigated how 5 major chatbots responded to questions about voting with disabilities. As our research found, these chatbots are a vector for election-related and disability-related misinformation that could impede exercising the right to vote or undermine voters’ confidence in the election itself. This was original research on an important issue of voting access and inclusion that hadn’t been done before. I’m proud of the research, our collaboration with the disability rights community, and the work we’ve done to push AI developers to address these concerns in their products and services.
What is your fandom?
While there are a bunch of great fandoms out there worth mentioning, the OG for me has to be the Lord of the Rings fandom. The books, the movies, the vast and continuing impact the series has had on modern storytelling, they all bring me back to this fandom time and time again.
What is the best book you've read recently?
This is a tough one, so I’ll cheat a bit. I just finished Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, which is a beautifully written novel about a young Iranian-American poet searching for meaning amid overpowering grief. The novel seamlessly weaves together a personal journey and family saga that is both heart-breaking and hopeful.
But if I am being really honest with myself, my favorite read of the year so far has been the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinneman. The series begins with everyone on Earth being forced into a real-life 18-floor dungeon crawl complete with goblins and monsters. The series reads like a videogame, as readers follow Carl and his talking cat as they smash their way through each Dungeon level. If you've ever thought to yourself, “The Hunger Games was great, but what if it was actually super funny instead?,” then this one's for you. I liked it enough that I convinced the CDT bookclub to read the first book last month! It’s absurd… and exactly the escape needed for the current moment.
| |
|
|
|
|
