UNSW students learn to spot AI election manipulation by running a fake campaign
UNSW students build AI bots to manipulate voters in a fake election, learning both attack and defence methods.
Computer engineering students at UNSW are running AI bots on a made-up social media platform called Legit Social. The students aim to sway votes in a fictional referendum on dolphin flu vaccination.
The competition is real: students earn points for engagement and for changing voters' minds. Students also earn points for spotting rival teams' bots.
One student's strategy is to post rage-bait content. Her goal is to make people angry enough to comment, which boosts her posts and earns more points.
The competition runs for a month on a fictional island nation called Kingstonia. This gives researchers a safe space to study how AI bots behave and how people detect them.
UNSW lecturer Hammond Pearce said the exercise helps students recognise manipulation tactics. It also teaches them what defenders need to do to catch such attacks.
Australia's electoral commissioner recently warned parliament that AI poses real threats to election integrity.
Why it mattersStudents learn how AI bots actually manipulate voters online, and how to spot the signs, skills they'll need as AI threats to real elections grow.
AustraliaAustralia's election watchdog has flagged AI as a genuine threat to future elections; this exercise helps train the next generation of tech workers to recognise and defend against it.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 3 h ago
