Start tonight with the campaign issue making front page news most of the week around the U.S.. A viral video with false claims against Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has been linked to a former Florida man.

The ex law enforcement official fled to Moscow and is reportedly working with Russian military intelligence to disrupt the upcoming presidential election.

Renee Buhr is a University of St. Thomas professor.

She teaches international studies and political science.

Here too is Manjeet Rege.

He is the director of the center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of St. Thomas.

Thank thanks for both of you being here.

How sophisticated are these operations?

So they're extremely sophisticated.

it.

And on the one hand, it's not all that new.

What, Russian intelligence agencies are doing right now is what they have been doing for decades.

So looking back to the KGB, the psychological strategies that they're using to manipulate people and to, to spread disinformation is really the thing they've been doing for decades.

Can can the platforms themselves filter this stuff out?

Well they can, but it depends on, you know, what kind of video it is.

So when you think about fake videos, there are the deepfake videos and then there are the cheap fakes.

So the cheap fakes, you know, there may not be a lot of AI being used.

So a platform is trying to monitor the usage of an AI.

And but even if you have hired, let's say, an actor to enact, let's say a particular incident that has never happened.

all that the platform is trying to detect is that there was no AI being used.

But that does not mean then that that video is not fake.

The tension between freedom of speech and, weeding out some of this stuff.

But where's the balance there?

It's very difficult because we're really a soft target for this.

And what Russian intelligence agencies are very good at is determining where thg divisions are amongst Americans and really heightening those.

The big differences now, thanks to social media and even new media, which is, more hyperpartisan, than, one video that, resonates with people can be shared with a million people.

So it's an old strategy, but amplified by a million.

Is there, is it hopeless to combat this?

On the technical side from the companies that are involved?

Or is it something that buyer beware type of thing, viewer or listener beware?

Yeah.

So I think it's a multiple stakeholder approach probably that will that is going to work here.

First of all you know from a public point of view, there needs to be more education about what AI can and cannot do.

Secondly, educated public can then put probably some encouragement and pressure on lawmakers who can eventually put in a mandate some regulations on these big tech companies.

When you think about tech companies, you know, there are thch companies that, that facilitate these model creation.

And then there are these other tech companies that distribute these fake videos as well.

But it's hopeless for the regulate regulatory bodies or Congress or a legislature to keep ahead of this or to even keep up with it, isn't it?

Right.

I mean, so so that's why I think there needs to be more informed, lawmakers as well as public as well, so that, you know, it's not always impossible to detect, AI generated videos.

There are certain nuances that we can easily identify, in the AI generated videos, such as, you know, many times, fake videos, the fingers aren’t properly rendered.

Many things in the background may not be properly rendered.

When you have a fake voice that may have some ambient noise in the background, there might be distortions.

So there are ways to detect it.

Tell us about the media bias chart.

Yes.

Is that something to use?

It is really useful.

It's something I share with my students, and I recommend anyone using it.

It is called the media bias chart.

It's made by an organization called Ad Fontes Media.

So you can Google that and find it.

And it's a lovely figure that tells you which media sources tend to report mostly fact versus those which are more biased or even to the level of propaganda.

What did you make of this The New York Times report today that China was monitoring the phones of President Trump and Senator Vance?

Oh, not surprising at all.

So there's actually a fantastic database that people might find interesting called the Authoritarian Interference Tracker.

And it tracks the activities of both the Russian intelligence services and the Chinese intelligence services.

Can the telecom companies do something?

Yeah.

I mean, you know, there are ways to detect if there has been intrusion or not.

And, so AI, you know, plays a dual role.

It can help to prevent, you know, disinformation.

At the same time, if it lands in the hands of bad actors, it can lead to information being spreading as well.

Is there any data show that these these attempts have actually caused a candidate to win or lose or voting to be suppressed, or is it just theoretical now?

Everything that I've read said that it's unlikely to have completely changed how someone would vote.

However, these sort of surprise attacks, like against Governor Walz this week are very common.

Like at the two week mark right before the election, we see these in the Brexit debates.

We saw them in the French elections in 2017.

So Russia has this sort of two week time period where they try to put something out there that they think will influence people who are on the fence.

Just a minute left.

Is this going to get worse and worse, or is there an effort that it could be successful to, you know, then do it?

Yeah, it's going to get worse in the sense that, you know, it's kind of like a cat and mouse game.

You have the AI detectors that are getting better and better.

The same time, these AI generated models are also getting much better in terms of creating false videos as well.

Well, it doesn't sound optimistic to me.

I got to say.

Well, we'll see what happens.

To be determined.

Thanks, professors.

Happy to have you here.

Not all the media focused on Governor Walz.

This week was also about disinformation and deepfakes.

Vice president Candidate Walz is back on the campaign trail in swing states after stopping in Minnesota to cast an early ballot back home.

Political reporter Mary Lahammer was in the press pool with the vice presidential campaign in Saint Paul.

Governor Walz was especially excited to return home to cast his ballot with a new voter in the family.

First time voter.

(cheering) Beautiful Minnesota day.

Super exciting.

Cast my vote for Kamala Harris.

Amy Klobuchar, Betty McCollum and had my son with me.

Gus, to vote for the first time.

Exciting an opportunity to turn the page on the chaos of Donald Trump and a new way forward.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate has had a whirlwind campaign and recent media tour.

Tim Walz.

(music) Traveling the country and getting to see Americans where they're at, getting to hear where they're at.

Waking up yesterday in Saginaw, Michigan, and going to a union hall and then a church to see people, it has been something.

Please welcome the Democratic nominee for vice president, Governor Tim Walz.

Is this the first non swing state that you've been in in the last.

Been in a couple but mostly the swing states.

- Mostly the swing states.

Because you saw the reaction that you got here.

You coming into New York.

We haven't seen honestly anybody.

Like now.

Yeah.

When you roll into Pennsylvania, are they just like, oh my God.

No, they're they're excited.

They know what's riding on this.

They know that, those swing states and those counties matter.

It's targeted.

They're doing the work.

You went from running in Minnesota, now you're on the campaign trail accompanied by Secret Service.

What is it like running with Secret Service around you?

It's a little different, but runners are runners anywhere.

Get yourself a dog if you don't have one.

And get out there and vote.

You have been a good boy.

That was fantastic, Scout.

You probably need a pup cup, man.

(music) Former President Trump went after Walz at his rally in Georgia.

Remember he called JD Vance and I weird.

We're not we we're very solid people.

He's a weird dude.

That guy, he's always pumping his heart.

Ha ha ha.

You know, like he's got great heart.