Over 82% Indians oppose GenAI use in poll campaigns, says Adobe study

A high percentage of Indians, around 93%, agreed that it was important to know if the content they are consuming is generated using AI

More than 82 per cent Indians say candidates contesting elections should be prohibited from using generative AI in their promotional campaigns, said an Adobe study.   

According to the ‘Future of Trust’ report by Adobe released on Monday, about 94 per cent Indians want government and technology companies to work together to protect election integrity against the harmful effects of deep fakes and misinformation.

“One of the most immediate steps governments should take to protect election integrity is to promote a new type of media literacy. People need to understand the dangers of deep fakes and know how to use tools available today, like content credentials, to avoid being deceived by them,” said Andy Parsons, senior director, Content Authenticity Initiative, Adobe.

“We also need to move quickly to a world where it’s second nature for good actors to attach content credentials to their work, and for people to be aware of content credentials when consuming online content,” Parsons added.  

The study, which surveyed over 2,000 Indians about their experience encountering misinformation online and concerns about the impact of generative AI, found that over 92 per cent of people felt the need for having the right tools to verify the trustworthiness of online content.

Further, about 86 per cent Indians felt that misinformation and harmful deepfakes will impact future elections. 

A high percentage of Indians, around 93 per cent, agreed that it was important to know if the content they are consuming is generated using AI.

About 81 per cent participants submitted to having a fear that the content they consume online could be altered to fuel misinformation.

Further, around 94 per cent also said that children should be taught media literacy skills as part of their school curriculum to tackle the issues pertaining to AI-enabled misinformation.

“Concerns about misinformation are also impacting consumer’s use of social media platforms with 45 per cent Indians saying that they have stopped or curtailed their use of a specific social media platform due to the amount of misinformation on it,” said the report.

Adobe collaborated with research firm - Advanis to gather responses from 2,056 Indian residents aged 18 and older. Data was collected from an opt-in non-probability sample provider in March, said the company.