AI, DEEPFAKES, AND DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY: THE ROLE OF RTI LAWS

Abstract

With the advent of artificial intelligence and deepfake technologies, the modern information landscape is changing, giving rise to realistic synthetic text, images, audio, and videos. Such changes pose significant problems for democratic accountability, because they can skew political discourse, reduce trust in authentic information and make it difficult to attribute responsibility. Generative AI, deepfakes, and the Right to Information (RTI) and Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, along with current AI governance frameworks, are explored in this narrative review. Relevant policy and regulatory instruments were discussed in conjunction with literature from 2017 to 2025 across legal, technological, political, and public-administration fields. The review highlights ongoing challenges with the current RTI and FOI frameworks, such as the opacity of algorithms, proprietary systems, the ambiguity of AI-generated records, explainability issues, and challenges with verifying synthetic content. Comparative governance developments show a shift toward proactive disclosure, documentation, risk assessment, human oversight, and authentication requirements. Building on these findings, the article proposes an integrated AI–RTI framework centred on access, authenticity, traceability, explainability, and accountability. The framework repositions RTI from a primarily disclosure-oriented mechanism toward a broader democratic verification infrastructure supporting trustworthy public information, institutional responsibility, citizen scrutiny, and accountable governance in increasingly AI-mediated information environments while complementing platform regulation and technological safeguards.