For all the concern about deepfakes misleading voters, AI is having another impact on the 2024 campaign. In some cases, like the heroic AI-generated images of candidates, it's less about veracity and more about vibrates.
“When AI is used illegally, there can be consequences,” explains Danielle Lee Thomson, director of election rumor research at the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public. “But when you use AI to create an online environment, you could say, 'Oh yeah, Donald Trump is not a Steelers linebacker,' but you feel something and you can't verify a feeling.”
That's one of the ideas from this week's episode of the GeekWire Podcast. With the November 5 election just days away, guest host Ross Reynolds speaks with Thomson about AI, social media, and trends in online rumor spreading.
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The work of the Center for an Informed Public (CIP): “The Center for an Informed Public was founded by professors of information studies, law, and scientific studies, to try to inform the public about increasingly specialized knowledge. My team of election rumor investigators is just one of many at the center. We have an amazing group having a misinformation day. It's like a media literacy project. We have other teams who are demystifying research in psychology and media literacy. So, it's quiebro a cross-functional team and part of our job is to communicate the research to the public in our various verticals so that they understand it.”
Investigation of CIP electoral rumors: “Rumors can be true or false, but most of the time they fall somewhere in between. … Rumors are part of this pure process of trying to make sense of reality. We do our best to point out, “Okay, this little truth is here, but it's being conflated and framed into this larger phenomenon that just isn't true.” We try to recognize when there are parts of the truth that are being twisted, rephrased, or repackaged in such a way that they become false. “We have to think about misinformation and disinformation a little more holistically in that sense.”
The state of fact-checking, trust and security on social media: “Many of the platforms have had major layoffs in the last two years, and in the trust and safety teams, a lot of people have been laid off there. …We've seen this dynamic on many social media platforms that don't share as much political content. … [They’re] I won't show you these political memes. Even though they will keep you on the app for a long time, because you will be outraged or excited, it may not be good for that company's ROI.”
The unexpected impact of AI on the campaign: “We talk about deepfakes in 2022 and 2020. We have been talking about the role of social media for more than a decade. And I think every time a new technology comes out, there's a fear of how it can be used.
“Any time something is explicitly false and explicitly false, like an AI generated an image of Donald Trump wearing a Steelers elástica after he went to a Steelers game last Sunday, okay, that's clearly false, but Truthfulness here is not the important thing. It's the vibe. It's this feeling of kinship, this kind of imaginative play on the Web.
“There are cases where there were robocalls that used a candidate's voice to tell people to vote on the wrong day and in the wrong place. That was processed. So when AI is used illegally, consequences can be faced. But when you use AI to create an online environment, you could say, “Oh yeah, Donald Trump is not a Steelers linebacker,” but you feel something and you can't verify a feeling. So in many ways, facts don't care about your feelings, but feelings don't care about your facts either.”
It does not end with the November 5 elections: “I keep two countdowns on the whiteboard in my office, one until election day and one until certification, because I think there will definitely be a lot more rumors and it will be understood across the political spectrum what is happening, what happened and what is true. So we are definitely preparing to educador conversations related to election processes and procedures long after Election Day.”
Listen to the full conversation with Danielle Lee Thomson above, or subscribe to GeekWire on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
Presented by Ross Reynolds. Edited by Curt Milton. Music by Daniel LK Caldwell.