Get out of the trap of self-contradiction first

If you don’t want to fall into the trap of AI, you must get out of the trap of self-contradiction first.

PARK HYUNG-SOOThe author is an international news reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo. The Turkish presidential election, this year’s most important election in the world, has ended. Recep Tayyip Erdogan — “Sultan of the 21st century” — successfully won a third term and can be in power for at least five years, or as long as 10 years until 2033.

He already served as prime minister for 11 years and president for nine years. Foreign press accepted his 30-year rule as a reality, calling it a “de facto lifetime in power.”

Polls predicted a defeat for Erdogan. For the first time in Turkish history, six opposition parties jointly nominated Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and his rating was hovering over 50 percent. Extreme high prices and the earthquake that resulted in 50,000 deaths incited the Turkish voters to hold a “judgment for Erdogan.”

Also, after Muharrem Ince, who had the third highest rating, pulled out of the race shortly before the election due to a “sex video” scandal, Kilicdaroglu was expected to get more than half of the votes in the first round to win the election. Some local media claimed that “deepfake” technology was behind the unexpected outcome. In fact, fake videos were all over the place during the election campaign.

A notable case is the one released by Erdogan before the first-round vote. The video showed Kilicdaroglu’s campaign and cheering from Murat Karayılan, one of the co-founders of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

Deutsche Welle reported that it was a fake video combining two pieces of unrelated footage, but the message suggesting Kilicdaroglu was supported by the radical group was strong.

During the election, a video showing Kilicdaroglu saying “Erdogan is a God-given leader. He should be the president” created a stir. At the bottom, it showed a line saying it was a deepfake, but most voters only paid attention to the video.

Some claim that the “sex video” that resulted in Ince’s resignation was also deepfake. Throughout the election campaign, the opposition parties criticized Russia for intervening in the Turkish election with AI and deepfakes.

Next year, Korea’s parliamentary elections and the U.S. presidential election are scheduled to take place. Deepfake videos featuring President Biden are already spreading. Experts say there is no technological method to block AI-created fake news yet.

What we can count on is the competency of the voters. Recently, there was a research result that showed people are more likely to be deceived by fake news when they judge the credibility of news based on political tendency, not truth or lies. If you don’t want to fall into the trap of AI, you must get out of the trap of self-contradiction first.