What is currently happening in the world of Artificial intelligence was only talked about in science fiction 20 years ago. Today you are able to generate any image you can think of within seconds, replicate someone’s voice to say whatever you want, and create a deep fake video so realistic it is almost indistinguishable from real videos. With new technology developing at a growing rate, we are on the brink of what the future has in store for us.
With all this being said, we must think back to the creepy vs cool matrix. Most of the technology coming out is new, fun, and exciting. However most people are blind to the dangers this artificial technology really possesses. Dr. Gary Marcus discusses this in the YouTube video listed below. The truth about artificial intelligence is that it has made the ability to spread misinformation easier than ever. The consequences that could come with this, could involve conflicts in politics, race, and religion. All which have led to wars in world history. It is vitally important that there are regulations and rules placed on the use of Artificial intelligence and who is able to access and broadcast this information.
According to SocialMediaToday.com 71% of Americans get their news content through social media platforms, and as stated by Science.org fake news spreads faster than real news on twitter. A tweet that has misinformation whether purposeful or accidental has a 70% higher chance of getting retweeted, than a tweet with real news and real information. Pairing these numbers together, with convincing AI generated videos and pictures, becomes a recipe for disaster. In the future, the problem will only partially be humans creating AI generated videos and false information. The bigger problem will be the overwhelming amount of Artificial Intelligent bot accounts that are not owned or managed by any humans. The AI will have full reign to post and say whatever it generates without understanding the ramifications of the information it is putting out for the world to see.
Policy and Regulations
Public policy and regulation of Artificial Intelligence will be vitally important moving forward. John Villasenor discusses policy considerations in his article “How to deal with AI-Enabled Disinformation”; he states that it is important that social media companies must set up a set of guidelines on how to proceed with a disinformation attack. It is important to have humans on standby to be able to intervene with multiple bot accounts spreading false information. John Villasenor goes on to say it is even more important that they protect their social media platforms on important days such as the day of the national election where AI will be more prone to spread misinformation. Moving forward the best way to detect AI spreading false information, would be to use another AI. As the progression of Artificial Intelligence becomes more advanced more policies and regulations will need to be put in place.
Conclusion
The fears and boundaries of Artificial Intelligence are limitless. However the single fear I believe we as humans should fear the most is this spread of misinformation. This fear is the most relevant for the time being. I would not fear AI taking over multiple jobs anytime soon, but I am fearful of AI spreading false news and the implications this will have on our society. This could persuade presidential elections, promote hate speech, influence radical groups, and create crisis and chaos over nothing. This is my biggest fear with AI and it should be yours too.
Thank you so much for reading!
Garrett Goff.