New Delhi, 12-03-2024 : Alphabet Inc-owned Google has forged a partnership with the Election Commission of India (ECI) in a concerted effort to combat the dissemination of false information, foster the promotion of authorized content, and implement measures to identify AI-generated data during the forthcoming general elections.
In a blog post released on Tuesday, Google India outlined its commitment to amplifying authoritative information across a spectrum of election-related subjects. “We are collaborating with ECI to enable people to easily discover critical voting information on Google Search – such as how to register and how to vote – in both English and Hindi,” Google stated.
Given the increasing utilization of artificial intelligence in content creation, Google emphasized the establishment of protocols to aid audiences in discerning AI-generated content. “As more advertisers leverage the power and opportunity of AI, we want to make sure we continue to provide people with greater transparency and the information they need to make informed decisions. Our ads policies already prohibit the use of manipulated media to mislead people, like deepfakes or doctored content,” it articulated.
Google has already initiated the implementation of labels for content generated through YouTube’s AI features, such as Dream Screen. “Soon, YouTube will begin to require creators to disclose when they’ve created realistic altered or synthetic content, and will display a label that indicates for people when they’re watching this content,” the statement added.
Furthermore, the blog post revealed that the company has commenced the introduction of restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini will return responses. It underscored YouTube’s commitment to showcasing content from authoritative sources prominently, both on the homepage and in search results, thus highlighting high-quality content from credible news sources.
Google elucidated its stringent policies pertaining to demonstrably false claims in various spheres, including manipulated content, incitement to violence, hate speech, and harassment, all of which pose threats to democratic processes. “We rely on a combination of human reviewers and machine learning to identify and remove content that violates our policies. Our AI models are enhancing our abuse-fighting efforts, while a dedicated team of local experts across all major Indian languages are working 24X7 to provide relevant context,” the blog post asserted.
Moreover, Google disclosed its rigorous policies and restrictions governing election-related advertising on its platforms, encompassing identity verification, certification, and authorization by the ECI, as well as financier disclosures. “We take our responsibility for providing high-quality information for these types of queries seriously, and are continuously working to improve our protections,” the blog post emphasized.
In a significant move, Google announced its recent alliance with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), with a pledge to combat deceptive AI-generated imagery, audio, or video content that could potentially disrupt global elections this year.
Previously, Google had introduced initiatives such as the Google News Initiative Training Network and the Fact Check Explorer tool, aimed at equipping newsrooms and journalists with the tools necessary to deliver reliable, fact-checked updates to counteract misinformation. Additionally, Google voiced its support for Shakti, India Election Fact-Checking Collective, a consortium of news publishers and fact-checkers in India collaborating to facilitate the early detection of online misinformation, including deepfakes, and to establish a common repository for news publishers to confront the challenges of misinformation at scale.
“Google is committed to working with government, industry, and civil society and surface and connect voters to authoritative and helpful information online,” the blog post concluded.