A draft to govern AI in elections
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the constitutional body that oversees national and provincial polls, has circulated draft changes to the conduct rules that apply to parties, candidates, newsrooms and poll observers. The aim is to shield voting from artificial intelligence (AI), including realistic fake audio and video known as deepfakes. Stakeholders have been asked to send their views by November 20.
In a draft notification issued on a Friday, the commission tied the proposal to Article 218(3) of the Constitution, which obliges it to make sure elections are honest and fair. It said that guarding against corrupt practices includes stopping the vote from being manipulated through misleading material generated with AI, and that it must take the necessary steps to do so.
Rules for parties, candidates and media
Under the proposed AI rules for elections, parties and candidates would have to disclose every campaign item made with AI, whether that is a fake image, a clip, an audio file or a copied voice. Automated calls and voter messages that use a cloned voice must say at the start that the voice is artificial. The draft also outlaws AI material meant to mislead voters or misrepresent people. Deepfakes that are false, insulting or defamatory, and aimed at candidates, party leaders, supporters, election officials, the judiciary, state functionaries or the armed forces, would be banned.
Parties would also be stopped from using bots or automated accounts to inflate likes, comments, shares or followers in a way that suggests public backing. They would have to keep records of AI-assisted campaign content and produce them for the ECP when asked.
Print, broadcast and digital outlets, along with social media influencers, would have to label election content that has been altered with AI. Media houses would stay legally answerable for accuracy when AI tools are used for translation, anchoring or analysis, so an error made by a machine does not shift responsibility away from the outlet.
Monitoring and what happens next
Three bodies would watch online platforms: the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority, and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency. They would send compliance reports to the ECP, which would keep the power to order content taken down or relabelled at once. Election observers would have to report suspected deepfakes and disinformation directly to the commission without sharing them further. They would also be barred from using AI to fabricate or embellish election photographs, videos, reports or field observations.
The proposal is still a draft and is not yet in force. The ECP has asked for feedback by November 20, and the final wording could change after that. Until a final version is issued, the measures remain proposals.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Election Commission ne elections mein AI ke istemal par naye qawaid ka draft pesh kiya hai. Siyasi jamaatien aur ummeedwar AI se bani campaign cheezon ko wazeh tor par label karenge, aur jhooti ya badnaam karne wali deepfake cheezon par pabandi hogi. Media aur social media influencers ko bhi AI se badli gayi election content par label lagana hoga. Aam shehri ke liye matlab yeh hai ke koi bhi video ya awaz dekhte waqt label aur source zaroor dekhein, kyunke yeh abhi final nahi hua.
