THE FIRST meeting in a decade between an Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president was a historic scene. The smiles looked real. But the encounter was not. For now, Gadi Eisenkot is merely the front-runner in Israel’s election, not the country’s prime minister. And he has yet to actually meet Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinians’ ageing ruler.
The realistic-looking footage of the faux-summit was produced by Religious Zionism, a hard-right party led by Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and an ally of Binyamin Netanyahu, its prime minister. It was aimed at convincing voters that Mr Eisenkot, a tough ex-general hoping to replace Mr Netanyahu in Israel’s parliamentary election on October 27th, is actually a dangerous left-winger prepared to reconcile with Israel’s enemies. Fake though it was, the video made history nonetheless. On July 26th it became Israel’s first campaign ad to fall foul of a law that requires all such materials created using artificial intelligence to be clearly labeled as such. The Central Election Committee (CEC) ordered Religious Zionism to take it down. “They’re easy to spot. What’s much more threatening is the way AI is being used beneath the surface to slant information and to monitor and manipulate voters. Campaigners on all sides are using advanced methods of AI-boosted persuasion and manipulation. Israel prides itself on the way others adopt the innovations of its arms and tech industry; could the same prove true in election battles? Mr Netanyahu’s coalition of ultra-nationalist and religious parties is lagging in the polls. But the prime minister has one key advantage: his partners are united behind him. Over the past three years the Israeli government has invested vast sums in online psychological warfare, using AI tools to try to influence audiences in the Middle East and public opinion in the West. Some are now being used domestically.
“But the visible content, the fake videos are not the main concern,” argues Karine Nahon, an Israeli information scientist who writes about disinformation and threats to democracy. “Mr Netanyahu and his allies have been investing in election tech for years and have highly developed databases, and the parties of his bloc share voter information,” says one tech industry insider.
Since then, declarations about the use of AI have become ubiquitous in the corner of every screen.
Mr Eisenkot’s party, Yashar, was founded just a year ago, and the opposition more generally remains divided. Yet those hoping to replace Mr Netanyahu have the support of a network of anti-government protest groups that are deeply rooted in Israel’s tech community. “We’re going to see them fighting fire with fire. Israeli tech outfits have developed swarms of bots masquerading as human voters. These can push conversations online towards themes and views advantageous to whoever controls them. Bots can also be hired to vote in online polls. These surveys are neither as statistically reliable or well regarded as mainstream polls but they generate headlines which can influence wavering voters. Chatbots are also being used to engage with voters in political conversations and hoover up information on their preferences. Political parties are using this material, cross-referenced with information from databases bought from commercial companies that track people’s online purchases and search histories, to build complex profiles of potential voters.
“Most tech professionals support the opposition and feel they’re fighting for their future in Israel,” continues the insider.
