Predictive Quality Management in Nepalese AI in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections in Bihar: Empirical Finding

Abstract

In the history of democratic governance, the year 2024 was unprecedented as in this year more than sixty nations, accounting for more than half of the world’s population, held their elections, with nearly two billion eligible voters, describing the largest year in the history for election. 2024 was further distinguished due to the pervasive presence and intermingling of the AI in the political sphere. This presence resulted in AI becoming a central part of political communication.

From AI cloned robocalls in voice of Joe Biden in New Hampshire, the then President of United States (U.S), the year 2024 also witnessed, deepfakes of politicians of United Kingdom, doctored campaign content in Indonesia. This indicates AI-based political manipulation exists across geographies, systems of governance, and democratic development. Global Risks Report 2024, prepared by World Economic Forum identifies misinformation and disinformation, generated by AI, as one of the most likely sources of global crisis in near future. The scale, speed and rate of spreading harm during periods of election were substantially amplified by the usage of AI, with the increased accessibility and affordability of latest AI related technologies, lowering the entry barrier in the market of disinformation.

In this background, AI becomes a central actor in political communication at the global stage, not limited to the domain of poster generation, slogans, memes, videos, translations, voice cloning, and micro-targeting with unprecedented efficiency. This transformed the political sphere into a socio-technical one, exposing the interwinding nature of elections with capacities and limitations of digital governance.