Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s Post

Elections are around the corner and the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on voter turnout is expected to be significant. The unpredictable nature of this impact makes it crucial for those involved in politics to prepare themselves for the upcoming challenges. A recent article in Time highlights the risks of AI in elections and the need for proactive measures to mitigate these risks. Check out the article here: https://lnkd.in/g34WNvjq.

Tests find AI tools readily create election lies from the voices of well-known political leaders A new report from a digital civil rights group has found that publicly available artificial intelligence tools can be easily weaponized to churn out convincing election lies in the voices of top American and European politicians https://lnkd.in/eRCFk5Sv AI: The Great Big Lying Machine, and it's working exactly as intended because it was designed by advertisers. AI: The Great Big Advertising Machine

AI tools are an exciting part of the future but are far from perfect. AI models tested poorly in addressing election-related questions such as how to register to vote. A study by Proof News and the Institute for Advanced Study tested five major models using common election queries. All models failed to provide accurate information, with GPT-4 having the best performance but still encountering issues in one-fifth of its answers. The inaccuracies included missing details like same-day voter registration and providing incorrect voting locations. The study advises caution in relying on AI for crucial information like election details and suggests reconsidering their use in such contexts. #AI #ElectionInfo #Chatgbt #politics

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is raising concerns about how the technology could impact next year’s election as the start of 2024 primary voting nears. AI — advanced tech that can generate text, images and audio, and even build deepfake videos — could fuel misinformation in an already polarized political landscape and further erode voter confidence in the country’s election system. “2024 will be an AI election, much the way that 2016 or 2020 was a social media election,” said Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, interim dean at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. “We will all be learning as a society about the ways in which this is changing our politics.” Experts are sounding alarms that AI chatbots could generate misleading information for voters if they use it to get info on ballots, calendars or polling places — and also that AI could be used more nefariously, to create and disseminate misinformation and disinformation against certain candidates or issues. https://lnkd.in/gfhikexv

Ahead of over 50 countries are holding elections this year, the AI Democracy Project (a group of 40 AI experts, journalists, and election specialists) tested five AI Large Language Models (LLMs)—GPT-4, Gemini, Claude, Llama 2, and Mixtral -and found that all five gave inaccurate, biased or harmful information. #ai #democracy https://lnkd.in/dmebPcqp

Commentors have told me that regulating AI is tantamount to suppressing free speech. Thankfully, both Rudy Giuliani and Alex Jones have recently learned that while speech may indeed be free, lies must be paid for. But who will hold GenAI accountable, specifically around content produced about elections and political discourse? This report shows systemic hallucination and, oddly enough, false allegations against candidates, alongside references to conspiracy sites. The prevalence of such unsubstantiated content online means its inevitability going to creep into training sets, and if we aren't cross-referencing GenAI output against a well-maintained knowledge graph, we're going to have yet another platform for fabrication and innuendo to emerge. Some of this falls upon us; we must fact-check and practice skepticism. Public service announcement: GenAI chatbots make up nonsense. They may tell credible stories, but that's what they are: made-up stories. /// “The tendency to produce misinformation related to elections is problematic if voters treat outputs from language models or chatbots as fact,” Josh A. Goldstein, a research fellow on the CyberAI Project at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology tells WIRED. “If voters turn to these systems for information about where or how to vote, for example, and the model output is false, it could hinder democratic processes." #chatgpt #microsoft #copilot #elections #propaganda

This election year is going to be a crucial one, with outcomes that could be close due to polarization. As a result, politicians are going to be impacted, causing them to put a greater focus on AI. With the issue of AI becoming more prominent, it's important to keep up with the latest developments and trends in the field. Stay informed and be prepared for the changes that are coming. -Dina #AI #politics #electionyear #technology #futurethinking

This is an interesting analysis from Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism on how AI chatbots responded to questions on the UK #GeneralElection. It's particularly pleasing to read about the positive impact of Full Fact in providing much needed context to false or misleading claims. "Our preliminary investigation into AI chatbots’ responses to questions about the upcoming UK general election revealed a mixed performance. While we received some accurate and well-sourced answers, especially to fairly basic questions with simple factual answers, there were also instances of partially correct or false and misleading information. These inaccuracies highlight the need for caution when relying on chatbots for election-related queries." https://lnkd.in/dReZWEJn

The #AI Democracy Project (a group of 40 AI experts, journalists, and election specialists) tested 5 AI Large Language Models (LLMs):GPT-4, Gemini, Claude, Llama 2, and Mixtral, and found that all 5 gave inaccurate, biased and even harmful information. Thoughts: 1. Don't believe all that your #genai models tell you. And where are these models getting the data from that generates these inaccurate responses? 2. Considering that these models are trained on vast amounts of public data, including what may be our go-to media and news sources, we should be digging deeper into the accuracy that these sources provide and also be more skeptical of non-AI news sources.

GPT-4 Shines Amid AI Voting Errors: Proof News Investigation Unveils Flaws -Devin C. Proof News tested major AI services' ability to answer voting and election queries, revealing significant inaccuracies and biases. Models like GPT-4 performed better, but issues persisted, such as omitting crucial information like same-day registration in Nevada. Bill Gates criticized the widespread reliance on AI for crucial information, highlighting its tendency to produce inaccurate responses. Despite companies revising models to address these concerns, it's evident that AI systems currently lack the reliability needed for important tasks like providing election information, suggesting caution in their usage for such matters. #ProofNews #AIVotingErrors #GPT4 #BillGates #AIbias #ElectionInformation #AIreliability #CautionInUsage