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AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

washingtonpost.com

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Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#31

Post by marcellus23 »

r0s wrote: post #19

The idea of truth based on recorded media is a boat that sailed away long long ago. People are very used to being deceived by advertising in general and political media especially. The article mentions certain politicians dismissing any media critical of them as AI deepfakes, a claim the article then instantly fact-checks (without irony). Denial and lies are not new in any sense. Fake media is not new, and analog fak…

> The idea of truth based on recorded media is a boat that sailed away long long ago.

And if it was ever here, it was only here for the blink of an eye, relatively speaking. Almost all of human history took place before recorded media was invented.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#33

Post by guilhas »

There are many known real embarrassing videos of both Biden and Trump, so the impact seems low

And there has already been a roller coaster 'fake' news already, these recent years, back and forth, Hillary, Trump, Biden, Hunter, Covid origin, vaccine safety, election interference, Pizzagate, QAnon, Russiagate, Top secret documents, impeachments...

The voters have become so entrenched and polarized, there isn't much that will sway them

But the problem exists, probably social media websites should have a notification for videos flagged late "You have watched video X, since then context has been added: This was AI generated"

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#34

Post by TMWNN »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

My feeling is that the media including newspapers are the ones destabilizing the concept of truth itself in their reporting. The media have been going out of their way to elevate themselves as the arbiters and gatekeepers of “truth” all the while using their coverages and how they frame the coverages to push people towards their view of the world.

>The media have been going out of their way to elevate themselves as the arbiters and gatekeepers of “truth” all the while using their coverages and how they frame the coverages to push people towards their view of the world.

Example: This recent Hollywood Reporter article https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/c...> on Cheryl Hines, wife of presidential candidate RFK Jr. Note the huge tone shifts between what the author wrote, and what the editor hamfistedly inserted throughout the piece about "dubious and disproven claims".

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#36

Post by j45 »

jfim wrote: post #9
j45 wrote: post #4

It might be more accurate to say some people are using AI to try and destabilize the concept of truth. AI sitting on it's own on a computer won't do this. Someone has to compel it. My question is if it can be used to destabilize truth, how can AI help make inherent truth (true from all/most angles and interpretations) stand out more?

> My question is if it can be used to destabilize truth, how can AI help make inherent truth (true from all/most angles and interpretations) stand out more? I'd say that it can't, because it's not an AI problem, but rather a media problem. In general, people are more interested in sensational reporting ("You won't believe what X did") than well thought out, factual reporting. The solution is a slower news cycle with…

Ok, then to the extent it's a media problem, which is to me a proxy for a problem of interpretation and disseminating interpretation as facts.

Click Bait will be effective as long as the human brain is wired to process the environment for threat. "You won't believe what X tried to report on Y was doing".

A slower news cycle could be useful, but it makes me wonder if that's not how it was already.. in the past, and also centralized the news.

Learning from news itself may be part of the issue. I remain surprised by what a large percent of the population doesn't know the difference between journalism and opinion/editoral writing. Maybe something like www.mediabiaschart.com can help.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#37

Post by jahewson »

ActionHank wrote: post #11
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #10

My feeling is that the media including newspapers are the ones destabilizing the concept of truth itself in their reporting. The media have been going out of their way to elevate themselves as the arbiters and gatekeepers of “truth” all the while using their coverages and how they frame the coverages to push people towards their view of the world.

A major function of journalism is to verify news before publishing, the issue is likely due to social media where there are very few mechanisms to correct misinformation.

This is not actually true. For example the NYT news desk does not employ any fact checkers. You have to go to the opinion desk for those.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#38

Post by jahewson »

Hard disagree. This sort of conspiratorial dismissal of plain evidence has been going on since at least the moon landings, probably since the dawn of time.

Ignoring the evidence of your eyes and ears is just part and parcel for members of political groups. It’s a bit silly to think that people actually believe these things due to logical reasoning when you look at the reasoning that’s gone into all the other things they believe. If not AI it would be “taken out of context” or crisis actors, or a hoax by the elite, or communists, or aliens, etc.

Re: AI is destabilizing 'the concept of truth itself' in 2024 election

#39

Post by steego »

r0s wrote: post #19

The idea of truth based on recorded media is a boat that sailed away long long ago. People are very used to being deceived by advertising in general and political media especially. The article mentions certain politicians dismissing any media critical of them as AI deepfakes, a claim the article then instantly fact-checks (without irony). Denial and lies are not new in any sense. Fake media is not new, and analog fak…

If you’re struggling to imagine AI having a significant and measurable impact, then I think you’re failing account how many people, who are not extremely gullible, are influenced simply by repetitive narratives and group think.

AI will simply accelerate the creation of already effective targeted propaganda.

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