South Korean presidential candidates used AI-generated deepfake avatars during their 2022 election campaigns to engage with voters, particularly targeting younger demographics through social media platforms.
During South Korea's 2022 presidential election, multiple candidates deployed AI-generated avatars to enhance their campaigns. The main opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol created 'AI Yoon' using deepfake technology provided by Seoul-based DeepBrain AI Inc. The candidate spent two days recording over 3,000 sentences and 20 hours of audio/video to train the system. AI Yoon produced over 80 video clips shared on social media, attracting more than 70,000 comments since January 2022. The avatar answered voter questions with scripted responses designed to be humorous and relatable to younger audiences. Initially, AI Yoon was too serious and 'tanked,' but after pivoting to lighter content and humor, it became successful in engaging voters. The ruling Democratic Party initially criticized the technology as fraudulent but later created their own AI version of candidate Lee Jae-myung. Independent candidate Kim Dong-yeon also introduced AI spokesperson 'AiDY' and avatar 'WinDY.' The technology was used to reach voters the candidates couldn't meet in person, with videos typically lasting 30 seconds or less. The avatars were clearly identified as AI-generated to comply with election regulations.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Highly personalized AI-generated misinformation creating “filter bubbles” where individuals only see what matches their existing beliefs, undermining shared reality, weakening social cohesion and political processes.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed