With the 2024 U.S. elections around the corner, a paramount goal at the Department of Justice (DoJ) is to safeguard the integrity of election infrastructure against cybercriminals and foreign adversaries willing to use AI and cyber tools to undermine the elections, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said on Tuesday.
“There is no more important mission I think that we face this year than protecting our democracy,” Monaco said during a panel discussion at the RSA Conference 2024 in San Francisco on May 7.
“When it comes to protecting our democracy, we think about protecting the most fundamental of rights, and there is not a more fundamental right that we have than our ability to have our voices heard,” she said.
In particular, she said DoJ is looking to protect against AI-driven threat to the elections.
“To vote is the right that secures all the other rights,” Monaco said. “And so we are acutely aware of the risks posed by AI when it comes to the right to vote, and again, the ability of malicious actors to disseminate misinformation [and] disinformation, to spread at best confusion and at worst real chaos and distrust in our system.”
While AI tools are proliferating at an astonishing rate and pose both risks and benefits to society, Monaco offered assurance that DoJ has the tools to tackle challenges that AI-driven exploits may present.
“We are looking at a host of ways as to how we can address this threat, and the first thing we can do is apply the tools that we already have,” she said.
“But my own view is while all of that is important to focus on we also need to recognize that we’re not starting from scratch. We have tools, we have authorities that we can use, and we must use to protect these most fundamental rights,” Monaco said.
Monaco pointed back to how the Justice Department was able to leverage its authority earlier this year to deter an online influencer from continually spreading misinformation about abilities to vote by text.
“Now this case didn’t involve AI, but it doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to figure out that it could right, and to see … down the road how AI could be used to supercharge exactly that type of scheme,” she explained.
“So we are on the watch,” Monaco said. “And we will be very, very focused on using all the tools we have to get after those who are trying to deprive individuals of having their voices heard,” she said.
