by Cam Lucadou-Wells
Greater Dandenong councillor Sean O’Reilly is an early adopter of AI technology while on the election hustings.
The IT software expert’s Facebook page is strewn with AI-generated campaign songs in an array of genres such as heavy metal, dance, rap and country.
There are versions that also target different languages English, Vietnamese, Chinese and Khmer as well.
It’s all a bit of a hoot, with playful AI images of Cr O’Reilly – which are not quite true to life.
His trimmed-down, athletic versions look more apt to run for the Olympics than local council.
Which might be a tempting option for candidates who routinely use surprisingly youthful photos of themselves.
However the AI generators – still in their infancy – don’t seem to respond to subtle fine-tuning.
“I was trying to get it not to use a version as slim and as athletic,” Cr O’Reilly said.
“I asked it could you make it a 185-centimetre, 110-kilo, 50 year old guy with a little paunch – and then it would put on heaps of fat.”
The technology is quick to generate images and songs, but it takes a long time to refine suitable iterations.
“It takes a fair bit of tweaking,” Cr O’Reilly said.
“The hard part is not generating stuff, it is getting it to do the same thing as it did before and to build on it.”
He expects the technology to improve fairly rapidly.
“The next big step will be video. There’s nothing substantial available for widespread use by the public yet.”
However, this could lead to “deep fake” content – realistic-looking videos that are anything but. It will get harder to work out “what’s real and what’s not”.
“When this technology gets to the point when it can generate an absolute likeness of me, other political campaigns could put me in situations that haven’t happened.”
Already, political ads have created manipulative messages by selectively editing quotes or sound-bites.
But AI could take this to ‘next level’- and it could be done by anyone using an app on their phone.
“The only way to circumvent is to have a chain of evidence, to attach an encrypted digital certificate to the original recording.
“There’s big changes coming.”
Ahead of the coming council elections in October, the Springvale North Ward councillor says AI is giving him an “edge” over rivals.
“It’s getting a lot of views and a lot of attention.
“The content can be tailored to effectively target a unique demographic group. It can produce high production values for minimal cost.
“But it’s also important in campaigning to always represent the truth.”
