Global Elections & AI Tracker

Purpose and Scope

The Global Elections & AI Tracker is a tool designed to provide comprehensive insights into how artificial intelligence (AI) has been used in elections across different countries in 2024 and beyond. It offers a detailed breakdown of each country’s election data, including key information such as the election date, the number of voters, and the status of AI policies related to electoral processes. The tracker aims to offer a clear picture of AI’s role in elections, including how it has been applied, whether it is regulated, and how its impact has been reported.

Key Features of the Global Elections & AI Tracker

Election Data Overview

The vitality of AI brings within itself a change in the overall sphere of development, making it necessary to place a deep and pervasive understanding and research of the policies and regulations related to AI worldwide.

AI Policy and Regulation

AI Policy in Place: One of the core elements of the tracker is the information about each country’s AI policy, particularly regarding its use during elections. It shows whether a country has a detailed AI policy regulating AI usage during elections or if the policy is still in development.

AI Usage Reporting

  • How AI is Used in Campaigns:The tracker tracks and reports how AI has been used in political campaigns. This includes both positive uses, like enhancing voter engagement and content creation, as well as negative uses, such as spreading misinformation or creating deepfakes.

  • Positive AI Applications: It highlights instances where AI has been used for constructive purposes, such as:

  • Voter Engagement: AI tools, like chatbots and personalized messaging, used to engage and inform voters during the election period.

  • Content Creation:AI-driven tools that assist in creating campaign materials, speeches, social media posts, and advertisements to target specific audiences more effectively.

  • Negative AI Applications: The tracker also flags instances where AI has been used to spread false information or create misleading deepfakes, which can influence public opinion and damage the integrity of the election process.

AI Narratives and Public Perception

Reporting on AI Usage: This feature covers how different countries report AI usage—whether it is seen as a helpful tool for enhancing democracy or a threat to electoral fairness and transparency.

Comprehensive Overview of AI’s Role

  • Country-Specific Insights: The tracker provides a comprehensive summary of AI usage in each country’s election, including how AI was implemented, the associated policy, and how the media and public responded.

  • Global Trends: It allows users to identify global trends in AI use across elections, helping to compare different approaches to AI policy and regulation in electoral processes.

Applications and Benefits

Supporting Policy Development

The Global Elections & AI Tracker helps policymakers understand the global landscape of AI usage during elections. By offering insights into which countries have implemented AI policies and how effective they have been, it can guide future policy decisions and improve regulatory frameworks.

Ensuring Election Integrity

Election monitors and integrity watchdogs can use the tracker to monitor AI’s role in shaping elections. It helps identify any potential misuse of AI, such as manipulation or misinformation, which could compromise the election’s fairness.

Raising Public Awareness

The tracker helps journalists and the general public stay informed about how AI is impacting elections. By making this information easily accessible, it promotes transparency and fosters public discussion about the pros and cons of AI in democratic processes.

Facilitating Academic Research

Researchers and academic institutions can use the AI Global Elections & AI Tracker as a valuable resource for studying the role of AI in elections. It provides detailed, up-to-date data that can be used to analyze trends, create case studies, and further understand how AI is transforming electoral systems worldwide.

Global Comparisons

The tracker offers the ability to compare AI usage in elections across different countries. This makes it easier to spot trends, identify best practices, and learn from the successes and challenges experienced by others.

Conclusion

The AI Global Elections & AI Tracker is a vital tool that provides a comprehensive, user-friendly platform for understanding the growing role of AI in elections globally. It offers valuable data on election dates, voter turnout, AI policy regulation, and how AI is being used, both positively and negatively, in the electoral process. This tool is essential for policymakers, election monitors, the media, and researchers, helping to promote transparency, accountability, and informed decision-making in the evolving landscape of AI and democracy.

Methodology for Global Elections & AI Meter

How Global Elections & AI Meter Can Be Used

The Global Elections & Global Elections & AI Meter offers a detailed evaluation of how artificial intelligence (AI) has been integrated into elections around the world in 2024. As AI continues to evolve, its influence on various aspects of elections—such as campaign strategies, the creation of political content, the spread of misinformation, and the use of deepfakes—has grown considerably. The Global Elections & AI Meter measures these elements, providing a clearer picture of how AI is shaping democratic processes globally.

Purpose and Scope

The Global Elections & AI Meter is designed to assess and
compare the use of AI in elections across various countries,
offering valuable insights into:

How AI is integrated into election campaigns

The role AI plays in creating political content and tailoring messages for different audiences

The extent of AI-driven misinformation and its effects on public perception

The impact of AI-generated deepfakes on voter behavior

Key Parameters of Global Elections & AI Meter

The Global Elections & AI Meter evaluates AI’s role in elections based on four primary parameters:

AI Usage in Elections

Measures the extent to which AI tools are utilized in election campaigns, including voter prediction models, election monitoring, and automated reporting.

Scoring:

1: No mention of AI usage in campaigns.
3: AI used for some analytics or voter targeting.
5: AI heavily integrated into campaign strategies (e.g., content generation, chatbots, voter outreach).

AI for Content Generation (Speech and Social Media) and Content Localization via AI

Assesses the extent to which AI is used for generating political speeches, campaign materials, and social media posts. It also evaluates AI’s role in translating and localizing campaign content into regional or local languages.

Scoring:

1: No mention of AI tools for localization.
3: Some case studies of campaigns using AI for regional content adaptation.
5: Extensive  use of AI for multilingual and region-specific content localization

Spread of Misinformation via AI

Quantifies instances where AI tools have been used to create or spread misinformation during election periods.

Scoring:

1: No reported cases of AI-generated misinformation.
3: Some isolated cases of misinformation driven by AI.
5: Significant AI-driven misinformation campaigns were reported.

Deepfakes in Elections

Tracks the number and impact of AI-generated deepfakes circulating during elections.

Scoring:

1: No reported instances of deepfakes.
3: Limited examples of deepfakes causing minor disruptions.
5: Widespread use of deepfakes with measurable impacts on campaigns.

Global Elections & AI Tracker:
Purpose and Scope

Using the defined parameters, the Global Elections & AI Meter assigns a score (1–5) to each country based on available data. These scores are then aggregated to calculate an AI Index, providing a quantifiable measure of AI’s role in elections.

Global Elections & AI Meter Formula:

Applications of Global Elections & AI Meter

The Global Elections & AI Meter can be applied in various ways:

Comparative Analysis

​It offers a side-by-side comparison of how AI is used in elections across different countries.

Monitoring Election Integrity

​It helps organizations track how AI affects election narratives and outcomes.

Policy Guidance

​It aids policymakers in understanding the influence of AI and developing regulations to address challenges like misinformation and deepfake risks.

Academic and Research Use

It serves as a resource for universities and research institutions to study AI trends in political campaigns.

Public Awareness and Media Reporting

It empowers journalists and the public to gain a clearer understanding of AI’s role in elections and the potential risks it presents.

Collaboration and Development

The development of the Global Elections & AI Meter has been a collaborative effort between British University in Georgia and Future Shift Labs, combining rigorous research and expertise. These institutions have played a crucial role in gathering data, validating models, and refining the methodology to enhance the accuracy and reliability of AI impact assessments in elections.


By utilizing this tool, stakeholders can gain a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping democratic processes, promoting transparency and accountability in electoral practices around the world.