In the lead-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election, state election officials are grappling with the benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence. Election officials must confront these novel challenges in a regulatory and political environment lacking in uniformity and amid technologies, like generative AI, that are already being abused in election settings. To defend elections from the dangers of AI now and in the run-up to the November general election, state election officials should look for ways to lead the current debates around AI's deployment and oversight. To start, these leaders should voluntarily implement measures addressing the use and integration of AI in elections architecture. That starts with having open dialogues with stakeholders around the safe and transparent use of AI tools as part of elections implementation. It also includes drafting explicit protections against the potential and already observed external misuses of AI in elections (that is, by those outside elections offices).
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