CBS News
Generative AI poses threat to election security, federal intelligence agencies warn
Generative artificial intelligence could threaten election security this November, intelligence agencies warned in a new federal bulletin.
Generative AI uses images, audio, video and code to create new content, like so-called “deep fake” videos in which a person is made to look like they’re saying something they never said.
Both foreign and domestic actors could harness the technology to create serious challenges heading into the 2024 election cycle, according to the analysis compiled by the Department of Homeland Security and sent to law enforcement partners nationwide. Federal bulletins are infrequent messages to law enforcement partners, meant to call attention to specific threats and concerns.
“A variety of threat actors will likely attempt to use generative artificial intelligence (AI) – augmented media to influence and sow discord during the 2024 U.S. election cycle, and AI tools could potentially be used to boost efforts to disrupt the elections,” the bulletin, shared with CBS News, stated. “As the 2024 election cycle progresses, generative AI tools likely provide both domestic and foreign threat actors with enhanced opportunities for interference by aggravating emergent events, disrupting election processes, or attacking election infrastructure.”
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines also warned Congress about the perils of generative AI during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week, saying AI technology can create realistic “deepfakes” whose origin can be concealed.
“Innovations in AI have enabled foreign influence actors to produce seemingly authentic and tailored messaging more efficiently, at greater scale,” she testified, while insisting the U.S. is better prepared for an election than ever.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
One example the DHS cited in the bulletin was a fake robocall impersonating the voice of President Joe Biden on the eve of the New Hampshire primary in January. The fake audio message was circulated, encouraging recipients of the call to “save your vote” for the November general election instead of participating in the state’s primary.
The “timing of election-specific AI-generated media can be just as critical as the content itself, as it may take time to counter-message or debunk the false content permeating online,” the bulletin said.
The memo also noted the lingering threat overseas, adding that in November 2023, an AI video encouraged a southern Indian state to vote for a specific candidate on election day, giving officials no time to discredit the video.
The bulletin goes on to warn about the potential use of artificial intelligence to target election infrastructure.
“Generative AI could also be leveraged to augment attack plotting if a threat actor, namely a violent extremist, sought to target U.S. election symbols or critical infrastructure,” the bulletin read. “This may include helping to understand U.S. elections and associated infrastructure, scanning internet-facing election infrastructure for potential vulnerabilities, identifying and aggregating a list of election targets or events, and providing new or improved tactical guidance for an attack.”
Some violent extremists have even experimented with AI chatbots to fill gaps in tactical and weapons guidance, DHS said, although the department noted it has not yet observed violent extremists using that technology to supplement election-related target information.
As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris face off in the 2024 election, and control of Congress is on the line in House and Senate races around the country, millions of Americans will be looking for live coverage of results when the polls close on Tuesday.
CBS News will have extensive coverage of the 2024 election on all platforms.
How to watch election coverage with cable
CBS News’ live coverage on TV and cable starts Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, anchored by Norah O’Donnell from CBS News’ election headquarters in New York City. Find your local CBS station here.
O’Donnell be joined at the anchor desk by CBS News’ expert team, including Margaret Brennan, John Dickerson, Bill Whitaker, Cecilia Vega, Robert Costa, Ed O’Keefe and contributor Ed Gordon. Nancy Cordes will report from the Harris-Walz campaign election night headquarters, Tony Dokoupil and Caitlin Huey-Burns will report from the Trump-Vance election nightheadquarters, Scott MacFarlane will cover the battle for control of Congress, and a team of correspondents will report from battleground states around the country.
The CBS News Data Desk, led by executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto along with Major Garrett, will make projections and characterize races in real-time throughout the night. Bill Whitaker and election law contributor David Becker will lead the CBS News Democracy Desk, covering election integrity and potential foreign or domestic interference efforts.
How to watch election coverage without cable
Live coverage is streaming on CBS News 24/7 throughout the day Tuesday and all evening until at least 2 a.m. ET, with election results expected to start coming in on Tuesday night.
Stream it on the free CBS News app on your connected TV or smartphone, on Paramount+, and all platforms where CBS News 24/7 is available, including CBSNews.com and YouTube.
Vladimir Duthiers, Ed O’Keefe and Lindsey Reiser will anchor Election Day coverage beginning at 4 p.m., ET on the CBS News 24/7 streaming network. Prime-time coverage anchored by Norah O’Donnell begins at 7 p.m. ET.
How to watch live streaming local election coverage from CBS stations
CBS Stations will cover the election live across its 14 owned markets, including key battleground states Michigan and Pennsylvania. Local streaming channels will stay in sustained live coverage from the evening hours onward, using a mix of local and network simulcasts and CBS News 24/7-produced coverage. The channels will simulcast CBS News 24/7’s programming overnight until the morning.
Election night live coverage plans include:
What time will election results come in?
Polling closing times vary from state to state, with the first batch of states closing at 7 p.m. ET.
Results from some states will come in late. The polls in California, for instance, don’t close until 11 p.m. ET, followed by Hawaii at 12 a.m. ET and finally Alaska at 1 a.m. ET.
What time will election winners be projected?
It’s not known when the presidential election winner will be projected. In states with thin margins, it will be difficult to make a projection based on preliminary results. Rules around the processing and counting of mail-in ballots, which vary from state to state, can slow results in some states.
In the 2020 election, Election Day was Nov. 3, but it wasn’t until Nov. 7 that enough of the votes in Pennsylvania had been counted for major news networks to project Joe Biden as the winner.
The 2016 race was projected more quickly, with Trump being projected as the winner at around 3 a.m. ET.
In the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, the race notably wasn’t decided until December, after a legal battle over a recount in Florida went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Donald Trump may have joined the ranks of America’s richest people through his real estate holdings, from golf courses to hotels, but it’s his stake in the fledgling Trump Media & Technology Group that has more than doubled his net worth to $5.5 billion this year.
The money-losing social media company, which trades under the ticker symbol DJT, the same as Trump’s initials, has had a volatile year since going public in March. An initial surge in the market value of Trump Media in March made the former president’s 57% stake worth $5.2 billion, but that tumbled to $1.4 billion when the stock hit a low of $11.75 in September.
The wild swings in Trump Media shares has prompted comparisons to meme stocks, or companies that trade on social media buzz rather than revenue or profit growth, investors’ favored yardsticks. Trump Media, whose main asset is the Truth Social platform, has declining revenue and large losses, with University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter telling CBS MoneyWatch that the “stock is incredibly overvalued.”
Even so, Trump’s wealth dwarfs that of his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, who with her husband, Douglas Emhoff, is worth about $8 million, according to an estimate by Forbes. Harris’ wealth stems from her decades in public service, book royalties and investments.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s wealth.
Trump’s DJT shares
Despite the roller coast in DJT shares, Trump’s stake in the social network has helped lift his overall net worth to $5.5 billion, more than double his $2.4 billion in wealth at the start of 2024, according to Forbes.
His stake in DJT shares, worth about $3.5 billion based on its November 1 closing price, remains his single largest financial asset. That’s down from $5.9 billion when the shares touched a recent high of $51.51 on October 29. Since then, DJT stock has shed half its value.
Because Trump has vowed not to sell any DJT shares, his stock market wealth for now remains largely on paper.
Where does Trump’s wealth come from?
Despite his billions in DJT stock, Trump’s original fortune stems from real estate, spanning residential buildings in New York City to golf courses and hotels around the globe.
Trump got his start working for his father, Fred Trump, a New York City real estate developer who built more than 27,000 apartments and row houses in Queens and Brooklyn, according to the New York Times. Trump claims his dad’s loan of $1 million helped him build his own business, which now includes holdings such as the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and the Trump Tower in Manhattan.
One of his largest assets is his $500 million stake in 1290 Avenue of the Americas, an office building in Manhattan, while his Trump National Doral Miami Golf Resort is worth about $300 million, according to Bloomberg News.
Trump’s earnings from crypto, NFTs and Bibles
Trump also has received a financial boost from digital assets including cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, an August financial disclosure form shows. The former president is also making money from licensing his name to a variety of objects, ranging from Bibles to sneakers.
Trump disclosed he earned $7.2 million in a NFT licensing deal, while he also has as much as $5 million locked up in a “virtual ethereum key.”
A $59.99 Bible that Trump endorsed in partnership with singer Lee Greenwood earned him $300,000 in royalties, while he booked $4.5 million for “Letters to Trump,” a 2023 collection of letters sent to Trump over the years from celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey.
The financial disclosure forms also show that Trump continues to earn money from the reality show “The Apprentice” and his 1987 book “The Art of the Deal.” He receives a pension from the Screen Actors Guild of more than $90,000 annually.
Despite the investments in crypto and NFTs, Trump’s investments are largely held in stocks, index funds and bonds, including U.S. Treasuries, according to the form. He also owns at least $100,000 in gold bars.
Trump’s liabilities
The disclosure forms, which are required of all presidential candidates, outlined liabilities including several mortgages on Trump Tower and other properties, as well as newer debts related to legal judgments.
Trump is appealing a trio of judgments against him for more than half a billion dollars. They include a combined $88.3 million from two cases in which juries found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll, as well as a New York State case in which a judge ruled that Trump owes more than $450 million, including interest, for a fraud scheme. Trump has pledged millions in covering bonds in those cases.
U.S. and European law enforcement agencies are working together to investigate whether incendiary devices detonated in July at DHL logistics hubs in Germany and the U.K. were part of a larger operation directed by Russian Intelligence services (in particular, the GRU — Russian military intelligence), the highest level of the Russian government or by outside individuals acting in the interests of Russia, a source familiar with the matter said.
Officials are working to determine whether the larger operation was to place similar devices on aircraft servicing the U.S. and U.S. allies. The Wall Street Journal first reported the alleged plot targeting U.S. aircraft.
The 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment published at the end of October said the U.S. continues to be concerned about threats to the aviation and air cargo systems, including the “potential use of the air cargo supply chain to ship concealed dangerous and potentially deadly items.”
DHL said in a statement that it was aware “of two recent incidents involving shipments in our network. We are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities to protect our people, our network and our customers’ shipments.”
“We continually adjust our security posture as appropriate and promptly share any and all relevant information with our industry partners, to include requirements and recommendations that help them reduce risk,” the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
“Over the past several months, as part of a multi-layered security approach, TSA worked with industry partners to put additional security measures for U.S. aircraft operators and foreign air carriers regarding certain cargo shipments bound for the United States, in line with the 2021 TSA Air Cargo Security Roadmap,” the TSA’s statement continued.
The FBI declined to comment.
contributed to this report.
