ATHENS 

Five Swiss political parties agreed to limit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their campaigns for the Oct. 22 federal elections, according to a report Monday. 

The signatories of the joint statement, the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party, the Green Party, the Liberal Green Party, and the Protestant Party, instructed their cantonal sections to comply with the code of conduct, which states that any use of AI during political campaigns including recorded adverts, posters, advertisements must be explicitly declared, the state-run Swissinfo news agency reported.

The parties forbid the use of AI in so-called "negative" campaigns, in which they attack their political opponents, it added.

“AI represents an opportunity to enable new forms of communication. But it also presents dangers, potentially making it possible to distort facts or attribute things to certain political actors that they would not have said,” they said.

However, the Radical-Liberal Party did not sign the statement but said that it is committed to banning any abusive use of AI, citing those via deepfake.

Arguing that the boundaries of what constitutes a negative campaign are blurred, the Swiss People’s Party refused to make any commitments on the issue, the agency added.