How do you counter misinformation? Critical thinking is step one
Late last year, in the days before the Slovakian parliamentary elections, two viral audio clips threatened to derail the campaign of a pro-Western, liberal party leader named Michal Šimečka. The first was a clip of Šimečka announcing he wanted to double the price of beer, which, in a nation known for its love of lagers and pilsners, is not exactly a popular policy position.
In a second clip, Šimečka can be heard telling a journalist about his intentions to commit fraud and rig the election. Talk about career suicide, especially for someone known as a champion of liberal democracy.
There was, however, just one issue with these audio clips: They were completely fake.
The International Press Institute has in Slovakia the first time that AI deepfakes — fake audio clips, images, or videos generated by artificial now leads Slovakia.
