It’s a big year for elections. Voters will head to the polls in over 50 countries. This time, reliable elections face a new threat. Artificial intelligence (AI) might be used to mislead voters.

Using AI, people can make fake images, sounds, and videos. It’s easier than ever to create deepfakes. Deepfakes are fake videos of real people.

Some folks make deepfakes for fun. Others do it for dark purposes. When Russians invaded Ukraine, they didn’t fight just with tanks. They fought with AI. Russia released a deepfake video of Ukraine’s president. The fake video urged Ukrainians to surrender.

AI photos and videos can trick people into believing lies. And that can affect the way they vote. Many voters struggle to know what to believe.

Christopher Wray is director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, aka the FBI. He warns that people might use AI to deceive voters. It already happened during the U.S. primary elections. In New Hampshire, some voters received phone calls supposedly from President Joe Biden. The message urged them not to vote. But it wasn’t really President Biden. It was an AI fake!

Other countries face similar problems. In Moldova, someone made a deepfake video of the president. In Taiwan, fake footage showed U.S. politicians promising military support.

Around the world, officials work to stop the fakery. The European Union now requires social media platforms to label deepfakes. But that’s not always easy.

It’s not just that people might believe fake things. People might not believe real things. What happens if a candidate gets caught doing something bad on camera? He or she could claim it was all fake.

AI can make it tough to know what’s true. But Christians don’t need to fear. Our God is the God of truth. We can test everything we see against what He says. We can trust in His word.

Why? Technology can make modern life confusing, but God is always trustworthy and true.