News/Fake News
AI’s Limited Impact on 2024 European Elections Surprises Experts
AI's limited impact on European elections: Recent research suggests that AI-generated falsehoods and deepfakes had minimal effect on election results in the UK, France, and the European Parliament in 2024. Sam Stockwell, a researcher at the Alan Turing Institute, conducted a study focusing on three elections over a four-month period from May to August 2024. The study identified only 16 cases of AI-enabled falsehoods or deepfakes that went viral during the UK general election and 11 cases in the EU and French elections combined. None of these cases appeared to definitively sway the election results. Reasons for AI's ineffectiveness: The...
read Sep 18, 2024AI-Generated Deepfakes are Heralding the Arrival of the ‘Deep Doubt’ Era
The rise of AI-generated media and its impact on trust: The proliferation of AI-generated content is ushering in an era of "deep doubt," where the authenticity of digital media is increasingly questioned, and real events can be more easily denied. The term "deep doubt" refers to skepticism towards genuine media stemming from the existence and widespread use of generative AI technologies. This phenomenon allows individuals to more credibly claim that real events did not occur, suggesting that documentary evidence was fabricated using AI tools. The concept of "deep doubt" builds upon the previously coined term "liar's dividend," which describes how...
read Sep 17, 2024Bipartisan Bill Targets AI Misinformation in Political Campaigns
AI regulation in political campaigns: Lawmakers are introducing bipartisan legislation to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence for misrepresenting political opponents in campaigns and political advertising. The bill aims to give the Federal Election Commission (FEC) the authority to regulate AI use in elections, similar to how it has regulated other forms of political misrepresentation for decades. This legislation comes as Congress has struggled to keep pace with regulating rapidly evolving AI technology, raising concerns about its potential to overwhelm voters with misinformation. Experts have expressed particular worry about the dangers posed by "deepfakes," which are AI-generated videos and memes...
read Sep 15, 2024Americans Don’t Trust Election Information from AI, Survey Finds
Public skepticism of AI in elections: A new survey reveals that most Americans are wary of using artificial intelligence tools for obtaining election-related information, highlighting concerns about the technology's reliability and potential for misinformation. According to a poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts, approximately two-thirds of US adults express little to no confidence in AI chatbots or search results providing reliable and factual information. The skepticism is particularly pronounced when it comes to high-stakes events such as elections, with many respondents doubting AI's ability to deliver accurate information about voting processes and candidates....
read Sep 14, 2024AI Threatens Election Integrity, California AG Warns Tech Giants
California AG addresses AI and tech companies on election integrity: Rob Bonta, California's Attorney General, has issued a warning to major technology and artificial intelligence companies regarding the potential spread of election misinformation through their platforms. Bonta sent letters to the CEOs of Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Reddit, TikTok, X, and YouTube, emphasizing the importance of preventing voter intimidation, deception, and dissuasion. The timing of the letters coincides with the first televised debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, highlighting the relevance of the issue in the current political climate. Key legal considerations: The Attorney General's...
read Sep 14, 2024G20 Nations Agree on AI Guidelines to Combat Disinformation
G20 leaders unite against disinformation and set AI guidelines: The Group of 20 nations have reached a landmark agreement to combat disinformation and establish guidelines for artificial intelligence development, marking a significant step in addressing global digital challenges. Key takeaways from the G20 meeting: For the first time in G20 history, the group has officially recognized the problem of disinformation and called for transparency and accountability from digital platforms. The ministers agreed to set up guidelines for developing AI, emphasizing ethical, transparent, and accountable use with human oversight. The agreement aims to ensure compliance with privacy and human rights laws...
read Sep 14, 2024Amazon Joins Tech Giants to Combat AI-Generated Fake Content
Major tech player joins content authenticity initiative: Amazon has become the latest tech giant to join the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a group dedicated to developing standards for tracing the origins of digital content. Key players in the coalition: The C2PA already boasts an impressive roster of technology industry leaders, including: Adobe Google Microsoft Meta OpenAI C2PA's primary focus: The coalition is working on developing a system to help trace the origins of images, which could prove invaluable in the fight against AI-generated fake content. Current state of implementation: While the C2PA's efforts show promise, it's important...
read Sep 13, 2024AI Threatens to Undermine 2024 Election Integrity
AI's looming impact on election integrity: As the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches, concerns are mounting about the potential for artificial intelligence to become a new scapegoat for electoral dissatisfaction and a tool for undermining faith in democratic processes. Historical context and patterns: Recent elections have seen a troubling trend of widespread disbelief in outcomes, with approximately half the nation searching for excuses to explain unfavorable results. Donald Trump's persistent claims of fraud in the 2020 election have set a dangerous precedent for undermining electoral integrity. This pattern of distrust and denial has created fertile ground for new technologies like...
read Sep 11, 2024Taylor Swift Endorses Harris in Response to Deepfake Trump Endorsement
Swift's endorsement amid AI concerns: Taylor Swift has publicly announced her support for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming November presidential election, citing concerns over AI-generated deepfakes as a motivating factor. Swift's endorsement came in response to AI-generated images falsely depicting her support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. The singer emphasized the importance of combating misinformation with transparency and truth. Swift's Instagram post addressed key issues such as LGBTQ rights, reproductive care, and IVF, demonstrating her engagement with current political topics. AI misinformation in politics: The incident highlights growing concerns about the potential misuse of artificial intelligence in political...
read Sep 8, 2024AI-Generated Research Papers Are Flooding Google Scholar
The rise of AI-generated scientific papers: Google Scholar, a widely used academic search engine, has been found to list 139 questionable papers fabricated by GPT language models as regular search results, raising concerns about the integrity of scientific literature and the potential for evidence manipulation. Key findings and implications: The study reveals a worrying trend of AI-generated papers infiltrating academic search results, with potentially far-reaching consequences for scientific integrity and public trust in research. The majority of these fabricated papers appear in non-indexed journals or as working papers, making them difficult to filter out using traditional quality control measures. These...
read Sep 7, 2024The 1st AI Election: Deepfakes, Misinformation and Personalized Propaganda
The AI-driven transformation of political campaigning: The 2024 election cycle has witnessed an unprecedented surge in the use of artificial intelligence for creating deceptive content, raising concerns about the future of democratic processes and information integrity. Current landscape of AI in politics: AI-generated content has become a prominent feature in the ongoing election campaign, with both legitimate and malicious applications emerging. Deepfake robocalls mimicking President Biden's voice targeted New Hampshire voters, demonstrating the potential for AI to impersonate political figures. Fake images circulated showing celebrity Taylor Swift endorsing Donald Trump, highlighting the ease of creating and spreading misleading visual content....
read Sep 6, 2024AI’s Influence on the 2024 US Election is Raising Concern
AI's looming influence on the 2024 US election: As artificial intelligence technologies advance rapidly, concerns are growing about their potential to significantly impact the upcoming presidential race through various means, from deepfakes to voter persuasion tactics. Deepfakes and AI-generated content: The proliferation of AI-generated pornography and deepfakes has prompted legislative action, with varying degrees of success and enforceability across states. 23 states have enacted laws addressing AI-generated pornographic content, but enforcement remains a significant challenge due to the technology's rapid evolution and the difficulty in tracing its origins. The existence of deepfake technology has given rise to the "liar's dividend,"...
read Sep 4, 2024AI Music Scam Exposed on Spotify by Country Fans
AI-generated music scam uncovered: A group of country music fans has exposed a stream-stealing scheme on Spotify involving AI-generated covers of popular songs. The scam involves placing AI-generated covers in legitimate playlists to accumulate millions of streams. Fake bands with generic names like "Highway Outlaws" and "Waterfront Wranglers" have amassed tens or hundreds of thousands of streams without original songs. These artificial artists have suspiciously AI-generated bios and no social media presence. The discovery process: The scheme was uncovered through careful investigation by members of the r/CountryMusic subreddit. A moderator initially discovered one suspicious band and explored "similar to" artists....
read Sep 4, 2024AI Disinformation Detection Tools Are Falling Short in Global South
The global challenge of AI-generated content detection: Current AI detection tools are failing to effectively identify artificially generated media in many parts of the world, particularly in the Global South, raising concerns about the spread of disinformation and its impact on democratic processes. As generative AI becomes increasingly utilized for political purposes worldwide, the ability to detect AI-generated content has become crucial for maintaining the integrity of information ecosystems. Most existing detection tools operate with only 85-90% confidence rates in identifying AI-generated content, with this accuracy dropping significantly when applied to content from non-Western countries. The limitations of these tools...
read Aug 28, 2024Deepfakes and The AI-Driven Truth Crisis
The rapid advancement of AI technology has raised concerns about its potential to blur the lines between truth and fiction, particularly in the realms of information dissemination and democratic processes. The deepfake dilemma: AI-powered deepfake technology has demonstrated its ability to create highly convincing fake content, ranging from harmless entertainment to potentially dangerous misinformation. In Hollywood, deepfakes have been used to de-age actors, such as Harrison Ford reprising his role as a young Indiana Jones. More concerning applications include the creation of fake videos featuring political figures like Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, raising alarm bells as the US approaches...
read Aug 27, 2024X Tackles AI Chatbot Election Misinformation with New Update
AI chatbot modification addresses election misinformation: X, formerly known as Twitter, has updated its AI chatbot Grok in response to concerns raised by state election officials about the spread of false information. Five secretaries of state from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Washington sent a letter to Elon Musk highlighting Grok's dissemination of incorrect information about state ballot deadlines. The officials requested that Grok direct users to CanIVote.org, a trusted voting information website run by the National Association of Secretaries of State. In response, X has implemented a change: Grok now prefaces election-related responses with a message directing users...
read Aug 25, 2024Copilot Falsely Accuses Journalist Who Is Now Suing Microsoft
AI-generated defamation incident: A German journalist, Martin Bernklau, became the victim of false and defamatory statements generated by Microsoft's Copilot AI, raising concerns about the responsibility of AI companies for the content their systems produce. Bernklau, who has decades of experience reporting on criminal trials, discovered that Copilot AI had falsely accused him of various crimes, including child abuse and exploiting widows as an undertaker. The AI system mistakenly attributed crimes Bernklau had reported on to the journalist himself, conflating the reporter with the subjects of his articles. In addition to the false accusations, Copilot also disclosed personal information of...
read Aug 23, 2024AI Fact-Checking and LLMs’ Role in the Misinformation Battle
The rise of large language models: The emergence of advanced AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini has revolutionized natural language generation, offering both immense potential and significant challenges in terms of factual accuracy. Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in generating human-like text, making them valuable for various applications. However, these models are prone to producing false, erroneous, or misleading content, a phenomenon known as "hallucinations." The ability of LLMs to generate convincing yet false content at scale poses a substantial societal challenge, potentially deceiving users and spreading misinformation. Factuality challenges and implications: The tendency of LLMs...
read Aug 21, 2024AI-Generated Images Fuel MAGA Propaganda on Social Media
The rise of AI-generated political imagery: Far-right social media accounts are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to create outrageous, fake depictions of political figures and events, ushering in a new era of digital propaganda. A distinct trend has emerged where AI-generated images are being used to create provocative and misleading content, such as Taylor Swift fans endorsing Trump or Kamala Harris speaking in front of communist symbols. These images, while not entirely convincing as deepfakes, possess a unique aesthetic that is almost photorealistic yet clearly artificial, earning them the moniker "AI slop." Donald Trump himself has shared some of these AI-generated...
read Aug 19, 2024Trump Reposts AI-Generated Images Claiming Support From Switfties
AI-generated images stir controversy in 2024 presidential race: Former President Donald Trump's recent social media activity has ignited discussions about the role of artificial intelligence in political campaigns and its potential to spread misinformation. Trump reposted four images on Truth Social purportedly showing support from Taylor Swift fans, using the caption "I accept!" An AI image detector analysis suggests all four images are highly likely to be artificially generated One image was labeled as "satire" and originally shared by a conservative account on X, while the other three came from a separate MAGA-supporting account Implications for voter perception: The sharing...
read Aug 17, 2024AI Video Flaws Spark Viral Human Parody Trend on TikTok
AI-generated content parody trend emerges: A new social media phenomenon has taken root on Chinese platforms TikTok and Bilibili, with users (@theGioM) creatively mocking the imperfections of AI-generated videos. The art of imitation: Users are skillfully recreating the visual glitches and impossible morphing often seen in AI-generated content, but without relying on special effects. Creators use clever positioning and off-camera objects to simulate the strange transformations typically associated with AI video synthesis. The trend parodies the seamless but unrealistic morphing of subjects into other people or objects that characterizes many AI-generated videos. This human-powered imitation highlights the current limitations of...
read Aug 14, 2024Small-Town Reporter Caught Using AI to Generate Fake Quotes
The use of artificial intelligence to generate fake quotes and content in journalism has raised serious ethical concerns and highlighted the need for clear policies on AI use in newsrooms. AI-generated fake content discovered: A reporter at the Cody Enterprise newspaper in Wyoming was found to have used artificial intelligence to create fake quotes and stories, compromising journalistic integrity and public trust. Aaron Pelczar, the reporter in question, resigned after admitting to using AI in his reporting, with seven of his stories containing AI-generated quotes attributed to six different individuals. The fake quotes were not limited to local sources, but...
read Aug 12, 2024How Human Traffickers Use AI to Exploit Vulnerable Victims Online
AI-enabled human trafficking represents a growing threat in the digital age, as bad actors leverage advanced technologies to exploit vulnerable individuals. This alarming trend highlights the urgent need for awareness, action, and improved safeguards to protect potential victims from sophisticated online predators. The dark alliance of AI and human trafficking: Traffickers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to enhance their illicit activities, identifying and grooming potential victims with unprecedented efficiency and scale. AI algorithms allow traffickers to analyze vast amounts of online data, pinpointing vulnerable individuals on social media, forums, and chat rooms. Predators exploit AI to recognize patterns in online...
read Aug 10, 2024Adobe Unveils Content Credentials to Combat Digital Misinformation
The big picture: Adobe's presentation on Content Credentials at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference highlights a significant effort to address the growing challenge of verifying digital media authenticity in an era dominated by AI-generated content and deepfakes. Content Credentials explained: Content Credentials function as digital "nutrition labels" for media, providing cryptographic data to verify image validity and creation details, offering a potential solution to the problem of digital media authenticity. The system tracks modifications made to digital content over time, allowing users to trace the history of changes. Content creators can use this feature to request that their content not...
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