AI models can meaningfully sway voters on candidates and issues, including by using misinformation, and they are also evading detection in public surveys according to three new studies.

Scientists are raising alarms about the potential influence of artificial intelligence on elections, according to a spate of new studies that warn AI can rig polls and manipulate public opinion.

In a study published in Nature on Thursday, scientists report that AI chatbots can meaningfully sway people toward a particular candidate—providing better results than video or television ads. Moreover, chatbots optimized for political persuasion “may increasingly deploy misleading or false information,” according to a separate study published on Thursday in Science.

Archive: http://archive.today/9Jq17

  • count_dongulus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    3 days ago

    If all you do is read the little statements booklet they send out, and then do the mail vote based on that, then AI is not in the loop unless the candidate is dumb enough to paste chatbot output into their statement.

    Seriously people, get your friends and family off of the ragebait rectangle. Most “news” media today is just opinion wrapped with ads about content they bought from Reuters and AP.

    • seathru@quokk.auEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      If all you do is read the little statements booklet they send out, and then do the mail vote based on that,

      … then you are no better informed than Bob, who is voting for the guy his pastor told him to. People should personally vet any candidate they are voting on. AI will make that more and more difficult moving forward.

      • count_dongulus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        Well my approach is:

        • Mark off every candidate who did not bother to provide a statement
        • Mark off every candidate with no listed volunteering experience in the little section for it
        • Mark off every candidate whose statement claims they will do things their desired office is not empowered to do
        • Mark off every candidate with a platform that doesn’t claim to be aiming for any kind of change or improvement in particular. (I don’t support chair warmers.)
        • Mark off every candidate whose email is a personal one listed as itsyaboymrthiccpenis@yahoo.com or something else similarly unprofessional
        • Mark off any candidate aligned with the party that supported the coup attempt in 2021

        After this quick pass, which only takes a couple of minutes, I’m typically only left with two or three offices with more than one remaining choice to compare. I then read their platform and pick the candidate with the platform goal that seems most relevant to my or my community’s interest.

    • Turret3857@infosec.pubEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      I’d love to get my family off the disinformation train, but when they’ve come to believe Facebook Sora slop more than their own flesh and blood it becomes easier to stop giving a shit and just hope they get fucked over by what they’re voting for, rather than even attempt to play psychologist and figure out what stupid way to word something so it sticks in their thick god damn skulls.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        It’s the fucking worst. It’s like you don’t even recognize these people anymore. Like their entire personalities have been supplanted by toxic lies and propaganda.