With a flood of information constantly pumped out on various social media sites and regurgitated by AI without vetting or fact-checking, it is increasingly difficult to discern what is fact. With people attached to their phones and now using them as their primary instrument to “Google” every question they may have on any given day, they can be misled into believing that information that pops up on their screen is valid and is a trusted source of information.
What is not understood is that what may be erroneous information from the start can be picked up and shared via algorithms, social media “friends,” and automated bots and ChatGPT and other apps can quickly spread and disseminate it even more rapidly than information vetted and confirmed by mainstream news outlets with checks and balances that confirm and attribute information before its release. AI, on the other hand, can reward high-traffic content and run a disclaimer that states the information may be wrong, yet many still utilize it as a reliable source.
Our present-day technology, while convenient, can “Disinform and Misinform” the public, who may make decisions based on wrong information they have read online.
“There is misinformation – those things that are false or inaccurate,” said Cameron Hickey, CEO of the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC).
“But whether or not they are in fact malicious in the intent with which they were shared, they are [still] misleading us. In contrast, disinformation,” Hickey points out, “is intentionally developed to mislead.”
Hickey is an award-winning journalist and technologist who founded the Algorithmic Transparency Institute at NCoC to empower journalists, researchers, and civil society advocates to increase accountability for digital platforms.
To add to the confusion, there are conspiracy theories online that also spread rapidly. “They are attached to some bigger, broader narrative and play on our fears,” said Hickey.
In addition, he said, there are lots of biased and manipulated framing of information.
“I think this is probably the most common thing that we’re familiar with now – content that provokes our emotions. It leads us in the wrong direction, even if it is not necessarily specifically true or false, but it manipulates how we think about a particular issue.”
One important example that plays on fear in our current political climate was persistent claims of illegal voting leading up to the mid-term elections. There was serious concern that immigrants eligible to vote as naturalized citizens would feel discouraged to vote with the presence of hate speech that has spread throughout social media that targeted immigrant communities.
In addition, many people voting turned to AI when making their decision on which way to vote.
How to Address Misinformation and Disinformation
A four-step method called SIFT was developed by Mike Caulfield, an information literacy researcher.
Taking each letter of the SIFT acronym, it’s described as a straightforward method to help to discern fact from fiction.
The letter S means stop. It is recommended to pause before you engage. It’s critically important that, whenever you see something that is challenging, that enrages you, or has the potential to shift how you think, you stop before you engage any further.
The letter I stands for “Investigate.” Investigate the source. Take a deep look at where you’re seeing that information come from. Pay close attention and dig in a little bit before you actually think about sharing what you read online.
F is to Find better coverage. Look for alternative sources of information and verify what you see.
“In the age of AI, people are often turning to AI to answer their questions, but is it true?”
“While sometimes AI can offer an intermediary search agent for you to look things up”, Hickey explained. “It’s also important to note that AI systems are not necessarily better at discerning trustworthy information from untrustworthy sources.”
T is Trace claims. Look for the original source. When you see some piece of information, can we actually verify that it’s true?
“This is really tricky in the world of things that look incredibly accurate generated by AI, and so the goal of, you know, defining the provenance of something that you’re looking at is elevated quite a bit today,” he said.
It was a serious concern in consideration for what was driving narratives around federal agents and voting generally leading up to the midterm election.
“Generative AI used to create images that show ICE agents intimidating voters at polling sites, for example, was manufactured imagery that was being used and shared to stoke fear,” said Hickey.
What impact these deliberate methods to deter voters has yet to be determined.