this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
120 points (94.1% liked)

Technology

58138 readers
4623 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

AI hysteria is a distraction: algorithms already sow disinformation in Africa::Forget ‘AI doomerism’ hype over ChatGPT, big tech’s colonial attitude lets hateful electoral propaganda be fed to millions

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


As concerns mount about the influential role of information pollution, disseminated through the vast platforms of US and Chinese corporations, in shaping these elections, a new shadow looms: how artificial intelligence – more specifically, generative AI such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT – has increasingly moved into the mainstream of technology.

Altman calls generative AI a major threat to democracy, warning of an avalanche of disinformation that blurs the lines between fact and fiction.

In Kenya, for example, I spent months documenting how Twitter’s trending algorithm was easily manipulated by a thriving disinformation-for-hire industry to spread propaganda and quash dissent through the platform.

My research in Kenya also found that TikTok’s “For You” algorithm was feeding hundreds of hateful and inflammatory propaganda videos to millions of Kenyans ahead of its 2022 elections.

Social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok have accelerated the spread of propaganda through microtargeting and by evading election silence windows, or blackout periods, making distribution remarkably simple.

In its “please regulate us” campaign, the tech industry has conveniently ignored the fact that, in its efforts to build these AI systems, it has nearly destroyed people’s lives along the way.


I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] wmassingham@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Twitter’s trending algorithm was easily manipulated

TikTok’s “For You” algorithm was feeding hundreds of hateful and inflammatory propaganda videos

Social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok have accelerated the spread of propaganda

Sounds like the problem is not AI/ML, but the platforms not moderating what they're hosting. Even before AI/ML, this was an issue, and even if we could snap our fingers and make it go away, it still would be.

[–] dabster291@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 year ago