On Wednesday I was an invited contributor to a panel organised by The Ferret. Entitled AI, misinformation and the Scottish election, the focus was on how best to respond to mis-and disinformation in Scotland.
Ali Brian (The Ferret), Digdem Soyaltin Colella (University of Aberdeen) and I discussed a variety of topics, including how bad actors use AI-images to pollute political discourse online, the vectors of misinformation in contemporary Scotland, and how we can rebuild trust in democratic institutions.
Many thanks to Susannah Fitzgerald for charing, Jamie Mann for the invitation, and our audience for their thought-provoking questions. The session can viewed below.
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I was interviewed by Jamie Mann (The Ferret) about AI misinformation and the upcoming Scottish Parliament election.
This De-noiser explores the evidence on how AI misinformation has impacted elections to date. From chatbots to deepfakes, there is increasing evidence that bad actors are trying to influence attitudes and voting behaviours.
A few quotes from the article are below:
Dr Paul Reilly, senior lecturer in communications, media and democracy at the University of Glasgow told The Ferret that “there’s a lot of evidence of efforts to subvert or manipulate public discourse”.
This includes the apparent “orchestration of bots” on X designed to “sow confusion and discord”, undermine trust and push people towards a certain position.
“I think there’s a bigger question about amplifying polarisation, and that is often what those behind these campaigns want to happen,” he added.
Reilly said that just 18 months ago, he would have considered the threat of AI-generated media on the democratic process to be an exaggeration. But the number of realistic deepfakes targeting political figures in recent months means it is now “a big concern”.
He said that while there’s not yet evidence that deepfakes can alter voting behaviour on a large scale, “it’s certainly a threat in elections coming”.
Reilly said there’s a lack of focus on AI compared to mis and disinformation, “but it’s part of the same thing”.
He argues that all institutions have responsibility to tackle misleading content, including media outlets who can fact check and debunk claims, and social media companies, which, he argues, “are still not taking their roles seriously enough”.
Many thanks to Jamie for the interview and Charlotte Morris for arranging it.
