Stanford Professor Accused of Using AI to Write Expert Testimony Criticizing Deepfakes

In what appears to beryllium an embarrassing and ironic gaffe, a apical Stanford University prof has been accused of spreading AI-generated misinformation portion serving arsenic an adept witnesser successful enactment of a instrumentality designed to support AI-generated misinformation retired of elections.

Jeff Hancock, the founding manager of Stanford’s Social Media Lab, submitted his adept sentiment earlier this period successful Kohls v. Ellison, a suit filed by a YouTuber and Minnesota authorities typical who assertion the state’s caller instrumentality criminalizing the usage of deepfakes to power elections violates their First Amendment close to escaped speech.

His opinion included a notation to a survey that purportedly recovered “even erstwhile individuals are informed astir the beingness of deepfakes, they whitethorn inactive conflict to separate betwixt existent and manipulated content.” But according to the plaintiff’s attorneys, the survey Hancock cited—titled “The Influence of Deepfake Videos connected Political Attitudes and Behavior” and published successful the Journal of Information Technology & Politics—does not really exist.

“The citation bears the hallmarks of being an artificial quality (AI) ‘hallucination,’ suggesting that astatine slightest the citation was generated by a ample connection exemplary similar ChatGPT,” the plaintiffs wrote successful a question seeking to exclude Hancock’s adept opinion. “Plaintiffs bash not cognize however this hallucination coiled up successful Hancock’s declaration, but it calls the full papers into question, particularly erstwhile overmuch of the commentary contains nary methodology oregon analytic logic whatsoever.”

The accusations astir Hancock’s usage of AI were archetypal reported by the Minnesota Reformer. Hancock did not instantly respond to Gizmodo’s petition for comment.

Minnesota is 1 of 20 states to person passed laws regulating the usage of deepfakes successful governmental campaigns. Its instrumentality prohibits knowingly oregon acting with reckless disregard to disseminate a deepfake up to 90 days earlier an predetermination if the worldly is made without the consent of the idiosyncratic depicted and is intended to power the results of the election.

The suit challenging the instrumentality was filed by a blimpish instrumentality steadfast connected behalf of Minnesota authorities Representative Mary Franson and Christopher Kohls, a YouTuber who goes by the grip Mr Reagan.

A suit filed by Kohls challenging California’s predetermination deepfake instrumentality led to a national justice issuing a preliminary injunction past period preventing that instrumentality from going into effect.