AI-generated deepfakes disrupt elections and businesses with limited defenses
AI-generated deepfakes are being deployed in Australian elections as paid ads and used in business fraud schemes, with research showing the public struggles to distinguish them from authentic content and enterprises lack defenses. Affected businesses report millions in losses and follow-on cyberattacks, while public trust in institutions and genuine information declines as people struggle to identify what is real.
What happened
Deepfakes are appearing as paid advertising ahead of the Victorian state election in Australia, depicting events that never occurred such as a machete attack at a petrol station, a woman giving birth on a roadside, and floodwater on parliament steps.
A meta-analysis of 19 studies covering more than 24,000 people found that deepfakes appear as persuasive as authentic footage and conventional misinformation. A survey of 250 U.S. security leaders found 74% have encountered or suspect a deepfake attack in the past year, yet only 10% have purpose-built tools to defend against them.
Reported impact
Research found that deepfakes are associated with lower trust in news and democratic institutions and can contribute to the 'liar's dividend,' where genuine content is dismissed as inauthentic. Nearly half of the participants in one experiment incorrectly labeled a real political video as fake or were unsure of its authenticity.
Among affected enterprises, nearly half reported costs of $500,000 or more from deepfake attacks, including direct losses, remediation and staff time. One in four reported costs of $1 million or more from a single incident, and 49% experienced follow-on cyberattacks such as ransomware.
Index analysis
Commercial and open-source AI tools now enable anyone to produce deepfakes without specialist technical expertise, and quality is improving, making detection harder. An experiment with 411 Australians found roughly 75% could correctly identify deepfakes regardless of quality, but around one in four could not confidently identify them or authentic content.
Governance controls
93% of surveyed security leaders expressed concern their organizations are not prepared for deepfake attacks, yet research suggests this concern has not translated into boardroom urgency to implement defenses.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.