AI bots disrupt Council meeting call-ins with racial slurs
City council meetings across the US have been disrupted by AI-generated bots spouting hate speech and racial slurs, prompting concerns about the misuse of AI to disrupt local politics and civic discourse. In October 2023, a Beaverton City Council meeting was hijacked by AI-powered bots posing as pseudonymous local citizens attacking the Jewish mayor and other members of the Jewish community with hate speech and anti-Semitic slurs. The incident left councilors and onlookers, including children, bemused, shocked and anxious. Mayor Lacey Beaty was forced to intervene and mute the fake callers. A November 2023 Walla Walla, Washington, city council meeting on property tax revenues was disrupted by a barrage of racial slurs, profanity and antisemitic language spouted by fake, AI-generated bot call-in speakers. Staff were forced to cut the speaker off, and the City Council subsequently approved a new policy to cut off inappropriate commenters. Beaty later said she had discovered that these kinds of incidents were mostly happening in cities with female mayors. However, i t was unclear who was behind the attacks and whether they were related. System 🤖 Unknown Operator: Developer: Country: USA Sector: Govt - municipal; Politics Purpose: Damage rep u tation Technology: Bot/intelligent agent Issue: Dual/multi-use; T ransparency
- Date it happened
- 2023-10-01
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