College professors weigh in on AI and misinformation ahead of presidential electionWe Identify Misinformation? College Professors Tell Us How.

The Spark

Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, is a field of study that involves the creation of machines that can mimic human intelligence. AI systems use algorithms and data to learn and improve, and can perform tasks like analyzing data, making predictions, and responding to language.

AI and misinformation has been a huge topic leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election. Matthew Jordan is a Professor of Film Production and Media Studies in the Penn State Bellasario College of Communications. Professor currently teaches a class on media and democracy.

It's very difficult to know what you're voting for and what the people are going to do. So, when misinformation or disinformation enters into the system, it clouds the it clouds the picture for people. And that's increasingly a problem because all of the misinformation that we once got, which is just kind of, you might say, preach, I was content form creators and now everything is done at scale by machines. So, this has created a new challenge for the domain that I've been working in, “said Jordan.

Professor Jordan says social media can play a huge role in misinformation online.

“So much comes at people every day on their phones that it's very difficult for the consumer alone to know what what is you know, what is true and what is not. Unfortunately, the social media companies have over the last couple of years reduced their curation capacities, what they used to call their trust teams. And they because I don't think they're able to deal with it at scale and because their business model is based on, you know, kind of drawing revenue from engagement, they haven't done a very good job of doing that. And I think the only way for the problem to be solved is for not only the public to be much more aware of inauthentic content that they're interacting with, but also for social media companies that profit from the proliferation of misinformation to be held accountable, just like any publisher would be, “said Jordan.

Jordan says there are some things you can do to differentiate between misinformation online.

I would say there are there are certain techniques that you can use, as I mentioned before, kind of if you're looking at something that looks like a news source, but you've never heard of it before. Check it out. See if it's real. And then also, if you're looking at a at a site and there's no byline, you know, no reporter that you can see if it's a real person, that's a good sign that it's probably generated by a lie. And those things are easy fixes or easy kind of tools for, for content that is not authentic, “said Jordan.

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