Majority worried about AI impact on election campaigns
The booming introduction of artificial intelligence comes in a year when exceptionally many countries have elections. A majority in the US say they are concerned about the impact of AI on the 2024 presidential campaign. They also express little confidence in big tech companies to prevent misuse of their platforms to influence the election, according to a new survey by Pew Research Centre.
A study from Reuters Institute of chatbots during the UK general elections this summer says that chatbots can produce true responses but their output is ultimately still the result of probability and subject to the limitations of the underlying architecture, the quality of the training data, and various other factors.
“Even the most advanced foundation models continue to sometimes hallucinate or regurgitate false information. While the overall quantity of accurate responses these systems provide matters, not all responses carry equal stakes”, write Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Felix Simon and Richard Fletcher at Reuters Institute.
“Sometimes, a single incorrect response can potentially have a greater impact than a string of incorrect ones – especially when considering that chatbots often provide wrong answers with the same certainty as correct ones.”
“They also only provide a single answer, which differs from search results where users are presented with a range of options to pick from.”
The Pew survey finds:
- 39% of Americans say that AI will be used mostly for bad purposes during the presidential campaign, compared with only 5% who say it will be used mostly for good purposes. Another 27% say it will be used about equally for good and bad.
- A 57% majority of US adults – including nearly identical shares of Republicans and Democrats – say they are extremely or very concerned that people or organisations seeking to influence the election will use AI to create and distribute fake or misleading information about the candidates and campaigns.
When it comes to major technology companies, 77% of US adults say companies like Facebook, X, TikTok and Google have a responsibility to prevent the misuse of their platforms to influence the 2024 presidential election.
However, just 20% say they are very or somewhat confident that these companies will prevent their platforms from being misused, according to the survey, which was made August 26-September 2.
“The share of Americans who say tech companies bear a responsibility to prevent misuse of their platforms has changed little since 2020 and 2018”, the Pew Centre says.
“Majorities in both parties continue to say tech companies have an obligation to prevent their platforms from being misused. But Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (84%) are more likely than Republicans and GOP leaners (72%) to express this view.”
“Public confidence in tech companies to prevent the misuse of their platforms to influence elections has declined over the last six years.”
“Today, 79% of adults say they are not too or not at all confident that tech companies can stop the misuse of their platforms to influence the election.”
Adults in all age groups are about equally likely to say AI will be mostly used for bad during the presidential campaign. And relatively small shares in all age groups say it will primarily be used for good.
But younger adults are more likely than older adults to say AI will be used equally for good and bad. Among older people, there is more uncertainty about how AI will be used during the election.
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