One in Four Israelis Considers Using AI for Voting Decisions

A significant portion of Israelis are contemplating using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help them decide who to vote for, according to a new survey. The poll, conducted by the Israeli Internet Association and Geocartography, found that one in four Israelis are considering employing AI or other online services to aid their decision-making process in upcoming elections.

The survey also highlighted concerns about the digital landscape during election periods. A large majority of respondents, 71%, reported frequently or occasionally encountering false information related to the election campaigns. Furthermore, over half of those surveyed, 56.8%, reported seeing fake accounts and impersonations with similar frequency. The use of AI for defamation and harming others was also reported by 48.2% of respondents, with an additional 25.6% encountering it rarely.

These digital challenges are fueling public anxiety, with 69% of Israelis expressing significant concern that the political discourse surrounding the elections will escalate online violence. Notably, exposure to disinformation appears to be widespread across the political spectrum, with similar percentages of right-wing, centrist, and left-wing Israelis reporting encounters with false information.

In response to these findings, the Israeli Internet Association has released a guide to combatting misinformation and is cautioning against blind reliance on AI chatbots. While AI can be useful for comparing stances and understanding issues, the association stresses that AI outputs are not objective recommendations and can be based on outdated or incorrect data, lack context, or even fabricate information.

The association advises using AI to compare party platforms and request sources, but emphasizes the importance of independently verifying information. "AI tools can help us understand the issues at stake and compare the positions of parties and candidates, but we must not rely on them blindly," stated Dr. Shaked Davran Zivan, the association's online literacy and safety coordinator. "It is important to check sources, cross-reference information, think critically, and ultimately form our own opinions."