A major political opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Russia of interfering in the upcoming presidential election using deepfakes and other artificial intelligence (AI)-generated materials.
“The Russians have a vested interest in helping President Erdogan basically stay in power, mainly because it is in the interest of the Russians.” [from] It’s driving a wedge between Turkey and NATO, and they’ve had great success in that over the last decade or so,” Sinan Sidi, a non-resident senior fellow on Turkey at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital. told to
“Therefore, it has been credibly reported by Turkish sources that in recent days and weeks, Russian bot accounts, Twitter accounts and all sorts of disinformation campaigns have begun to put the thumbs down on President Erdogan’s support, That’s not surprising.” ”
The elections, scheduled for May 14 alongside parliamentary elections, pose a challenge for President Erdogan as his election rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu maintains a narrow lead in the polls. found.
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Supporters wave flags and chant slogans as they await the arrival of CHP party presidential candidate Kemal Kirikdaroglu during an election rally in Ankara, Turkey, May 12, 2023. (Blac Kara/Getty Images)
Another candidate, Muharrem Inse, has already withdrawn from the campaign, claiming he was the victim of an online disguised “personal assassination.”
Ince said the purported sex tapes posted online were deep-rooted, using footage from “Israeli porn sites” to fabricate videos and images that looked and sounded like real people and events. The Guardian reported that it claimed to have been created using fake technology.
Turkish Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader and presidential candidate Kemal Kirikdaroglu speaks in heavy rain during an election campaign rally in Ankara, Turkey, May 12, 2023. (Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images)
“There are no such images or recordings,” Ince said. “This is not my private life. It’s slander. It’s not true.
“What I’ve seen in 45 days I haven’t seen in 45 years.”
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News outlets have reported instances of deepfakes and other materials that Russian agents claim to have originated.Another high-profile instance saw Erdogan plays video allegedly deepfake It showed Kurdish militants supporting their rivals.
Kirikdaroglu blamed Turkey’s “friends of Russia” for “montages, conspiracies and deepfake content published in this country yesterday.”
Presidential candidate and chairman of the Fatherland (Memreket) Party, Muharrem Ince, speaks to reporters at the Fatherland Party’s headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, May 11, 2023. (Mustafa Sifti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“If you want friendly relations after May 15th, get out of the Turkish state. We still stand for cooperation and friendship,” he said on Twitter Thursday night, in Turkish and Russian. rice field.
Teyit, a Turkey-based verification platform that analyzes the accuracy of questionable online content, has already debunked more than 150 controversial election claims, Euronews reported. Many of the claims were based on deepfake material seeking to accuse candidates of terrorism and disrespect.
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Turkish AI expert Jem Sai told Euronews: “It’s easy to see that kind of content is fake, but for people who stop thinking critically, it’s not.”
Experts have already expressed concern about how some bad guys will use AI technology to interfere in upcoming elections. Senator Pete Ricketts addressed the alleged use of deepfake videos to spread propaganda on China and social media platforms during a Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing earlier this year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the 3rd Turkish Youth Summit hosted by the Turkish Youth NGO Platform at the Istanbul Congress Center in Turkey on May 12, 2023. (TUR President/Murat Chetinmuhrdar/handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Aiden Buzzetti, head of the Bull Moose Project, told Fox News Digital that AI technology could do more than just create misleading deepfake images and videos.
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“AI’s involvement in elections could upend the bulk of election strategy, from data-driven gathering to sneaky tricks,” Buzzetti said. “Artificial intelligence tools can not only target specific voters to clarify a campaign message, but also have the potential to enhance the effectiveness of sweeping out dissidents.
“Unethical campaign consultants use AI deepfake tools to create inflammatory and disguised representations of federal employees and candidates, and in some cases illegally robocall in the voice of candidates. may be used to describe the candidate in a negative and destructive way.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
