Artificial Intelligence and the 2020 Municipal Elections in Brazil

Abstract

The main purpose is to examine the possible role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the uncertain context of the 2020 municipal elections in Brazil. The central argument indicates that, regardless of when the elections are held, the COVID-19 pandemic opened spaces for candidates to build their political platforms on the initiatives to combat the disease, but also the opportunity for the dissemination of fake news and profiles regarding the spread of the new coronavirus and social distancing and quarantine measures with political purposes. The electoral discourse has increasingly used technologies and data such as voters’ concerns, preferences, and oppositions, collected on social networks through AI. New data-based technologies can give rise to an unreal, induced, forged public opinion, in the same way that they can bring greater possibilities of discernment to the voter. The situation requires a more robust regulation for AI, but there are still many unregulated aspects and obstacles for the implementation of an effective regulation of online activities in Brazil, such as the poor adaptation of the legal space to highly volatile phenomena.