AI hysteria is a distraction: algorithms already sow disinformation in Africa
AI hysteria is a distraction: algorithms already sow disinformation in Africa
Forget ‘AI doomerism’ hype over ChatGPT, big tech’s colonial attitude lets hateful electoral propaganda be fed to millions
AI hysteria is a distraction: algorithms already sow disinformation in Africa::Forget ‘AI doomerism’ hype over ChatGPT, big tech’s colonial attitude lets hateful electoral propaganda be fed to millions
Why does everyone act like it's the technology and not people that do these things?
Why can't we both discuss issues surrounding ChatGPT whilst also discussing electoral propaganda? What's with this single issue, low attention span bullshit?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
As concerns mount about the influential role of information pollution, disseminated through the vast platforms of US and Chinese corporations, in shaping these elections, a new shadow looms: how artificial intelligence – more specifically, generative AI such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT – has increasingly moved into the mainstream of technology.
Altman calls generative AI a major threat to democracy, warning of an avalanche of disinformation that blurs the lines between fact and fiction.
In Kenya, for example, I spent months documenting how Twitter’s trending algorithm was easily manipulated by a thriving disinformation-for-hire industry to spread propaganda and quash dissent through the platform.
My research in Kenya also found that TikTok’s “For You” algorithm was feeding hundreds of hateful and inflammatory propaganda videos to millions of Kenyans ahead of its 2022 elections.
Social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok have accelerated the spread of propaganda through microtargeting and by evading election silence windows, or blackout periods, making distribution remarkably simple.
In its “please regulate us” campaign, the tech industry has conveniently ignored the fact that, in its efforts to build these AI systems, it has nearly destroyed people’s lives along the way.
I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Twitter’s trending algorithm was easily manipulated
TikTok’s “For You” algorithm was feeding hundreds of hateful and inflammatory propaganda videos
Social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok have accelerated the spread of propaganda
Sounds like the problem is not AI/ML, but the platforms not moderating what they're hosting. Even before AI/ML, this was an issue, and even if we could snap our fingers and make it go away, it still would be.
good bot
TLDR;
Big techs already cause spread of disinformation, but is not sowing 'AI doomerism' because LLMs threaten their profits.
I'm glad this is being reported on and has not been swept under the rug. I think it's important to discuss the harm AI has already done in any discussion of what the potential harm of AI is. AI has the potential to take white collar jobs, but it's already harmed the white collar workers who helped to make it.