Anya Schiffrin on AI and Disinformation

In a new journal article, CMDS Advisory Board member Anya Schiffrin discusses how AI is used to combat mis- and disinformation.

The article published in Tech Policy Press breaks down some of the findings of a recent report by Anya Schiffrin and her graduate students for the German Marshall Fund on the AI start-up scene.

Based on interviews with 20 AI start-ups, she explains how AI is used to detect disinformation. The report found that the tools to identify false information are developing, but so are the tools used by those who spread such information. “A well-developed disinformation industry now sells services like bots and deepfake videos in specialized dark corners of the Internet,” she writes.

The article explains changes in the market situation for AI start-ups in the past three years, as well as changes in the regulatory framework. She writes that in terms of regulations, the EU and the UK are ahead of the US.

She argues that disinformation is not primarily a technology issue but a “by-product of social currents such as the political polarization.”

Image: Colin Behrens from Pixabay