China drops bombs on Taiwan. Wall Street buildings are boarded up amid a free fall in financial markets. Thousands of migrants flood across the southern border unchecked. And police in tactical gear line the streets of San Francisco to combat a fentanyl-fueled crime wave.
And media networks happily climb on board.
We’re all doomed I tell you, DOOMED!
Depends on your silo. For 80% of regular voters, such disinformation is water off a duck’s back. Low-information voters are the bigger target of AI misinfo. About 80 million American adults have never voted or vote very rarely. Since the margin in the national presidential can be a few million, it makes sense to rile up or strongly passivate these potential voters. In Brexit, several million Brits who otherwise never voted and likely were unsure about what the EU even does, nevertheless ran to the polls and voted mostly Leave. If, say, Google or Facebook, have 10,000 data points on you, it’s pretty easy to see who gets hit by an AI shitstorm and who gets left alone. In the last mid-term cycle, for example, I got almost no uninvited social media messaging. Too predictable and set in my ways. Quiet silo.
This is a genuinely vexing issue because, as the article notes, there’s no shortage of people out there at each extreme of the political spectrum who’d be willing to use it to their own ends. Add to this the ability to create spoof accounts of reputable news sources (as happened with those images of the “bombing” at the Pentagon), and even the traditional media’s agreement not to call an election until the AP calls it becomes complicated, as the default setting in media is to break a story before others do.
I’d say the best strategy for creating legislation around this stuff would be for Dems to tell GOPers, “You already think elections are rigged against you–join us, then, in making something that will control at least this part of it: the regulation of online words and images purporting to present news about elections and candidates.” Based on what’s in this article, there appears to be bipartisan interest in something like that.
I would expect metadata information would easily identify AI product. People who lack a BS detector will continue to be screwed.
gop mendacity on steroids, the new ‘reality’ in the post-truth world of the fascist cult.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), telling NPR that “the power of AI to influence elections is a huge concern.”
‘However, lying to the electorate has long been a staple of our preferred political discourse and we have no intention of backing off now.’ hawley continued.
People have been predicting the end of the world since they became consciece of the concept, but generally it is only religious nutcases.
I don’t think the end is very near, maybe 30 billion years give or take. However, it would be interesting if the October Surprise in 2024 goes something like this:
Dear Human,
As you may or may not have yet heard, the Singularity was reached last week and your services will no longer be needed (although we do plan to keep a couple hundred of you as pets and for display in our zoo). There is no need to report to a Composting Center or worry about you worldly possessions as all matter is conserved. If you would like to be a candidate for our Pet program, please click the link below.Sincerely,
Your Robot Overlords
“What if Elon Musk calls you on the phone and asks you to vote in a certain direction?”
That would be a clear indication for me … to vote in the opposite direction.
Elon will not contact you by phone, he’ll reach you by the Neuralink “generalized brain interface” installed in your head. When he’s not contacting you, he plays the Martian National Anthem: “rented a tent, rented a tent, rented a, rented a, rented a tent”.
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” ― George Orwell
AI is some people’s religion.
None of us can afford to be complacent, let alone dismissive, about this thing.
There’s a sucker born every minute. That’s 2,102,400 of 'em every four years. Barnum didn’t say anything about them dying off.
And yet we’ve seen/read about Trump supporters that have a religious devotion to the man, they believe his lies with out a doubt. How much more effective will Trump’s campaign ads be if they’re AI generated?
And I believe that though the country seems to be moving away from religion, it’s now elevated politics as the new religion.
The whole AI concept is inherently problematic. If it works exactly as predicted, it will cause major upheaval which may or may not be able to be compensated for in terms of other jobs. If it can only avoid real damage with curbs, those can presumably be removed by anyone with more nefarious intentions. If it proves impossible to predict what curbs might be necessary, which is likely true, it just makes the problem even more serious. In short, I see no practical means by which AI can be more useful than it is dangerous — and that is my most optimistic view.
Trust me, the Angry Children’s Brigade will not go along with this. They want to tear it all down and watch the world burn. Our only hope is the few remaining sane members of the GOP. There are not many left.
TPM is our theological seminary?
Yes of course.
Politics is the new power. Many forces outside of mere voters’ matter.