AIs influence

Democracy in the age of AI can feel like the wild west for the 21st century, populated by cowboys and card sharks who bend the truth, distort reality, and damage credibility.

With the General Election in October, we asked Jonnie Penn, a professor of AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge, how to stay on the path of reality, when all around us AI is being weaponised to spread fake news and misinformation.

So you want to handle the truth?

Language is critical to politics, so watch out for how its distorted.

Determine if you are talking to a human and not a bot when chatting politics online. Ask yourself 'is what they are saying true?' Cross-reference with proven factual sources.

Take a hard look at your media diet.

Journalism that seeks to provide factual, accurate and balanced reporting is the counter to fake news. Seek out credible news sources – they may not be showing up in your social media feed.

Practice critical thinking, and teach your children critical thinking too.

Learn to question every source, and chat with your kids about the information they receive and what it means. Read AI content together and discuss where it went wrong.

Don’t accept that social experiences should always be channelled through digital tools.

Facial recognition, drone surveillance and other tech solutions created under the guise of keeping us safe can also be harmful in our communities. Being offline has its own rewards that can be as dynamic as TikTok – seek them out and share them with your whānau and friends.

Bonus shortcut

You can maybe avoid all the steps above if you:

Pass an AI Act, like the one proposed in Europe. It will assign applications of AI into three risk categories, banning outright those that fall in the unacceptable risk category.