Tech giants pledge crackdown on 2024 election AI deepfakes. Will they keep their promise?

Under pressure from the White House and governments around the globe, major technology companies pledged Friday to crack down on artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes that could undermine the integrity of major democratic elections in the U.S. and overseas this year.

Google, Meta, TikTok and other companies said they would join forces to create tools to detect and debunk election deepfakes. They unveiled the accord as political and security leaders gathered at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

The deepfakes in question are videos, images, and audio that alter or fake the appearance, voice, or actions of political candidates, election officials or other key figures in a democratic election. These alterations can also be used to mislead voters about when, where and how to vote.