The State of Disinformation and Newsroom AI in 2024

A fresh content drop from The Ethical Technologist: no fake news here.

Hello, everyone, and a happy Passover to those who celebrate.

As many of you may know, I also record a podcast under “The Ethical Technologist” name. For those of you interested in the 2024 Elections in the US, my latest episode will raise the hair on your arms. You can find it on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

My conversation is with Danielle Whelton, a former colleague who is now working as a consultant and expert with many of the social media platforms you all know and love, and/or hate. We spoke about mis and disinformation, how AI impacts the information ecosystem, and Danielle’s predictions for how misinformation will impact the election. A fascinating — and harrowing — conversation with someone on the inside of the social media industry, trying to protect democracy.

Danielle and me after she came to speak in my class at Darden a few months back.

Also this week, I wrote an op-ed for AIThority.com about how newsrooms should incorporate ethical thinking into their decisions of whether and how to deploy generative AI. A snippet:

Media companies, in particular, have a vital role to play [in building the future media ecosystem]. As they confront a future driven by generative AI – new competitors, writing companions, news delivery formats, or perhaps all the above –  they need to ask themselves a version of the questions I ask my students: what do they want newsgathering, news distribution, and news consumption to look like in twenty years?

And, is their industry headed in a direction to support the world they want?

The subject of this newsletter — ethics and technology — is an area that is only heating up. As one expert told me recently, we’re only in the top of the proverbial first inning in terms of thinking about how to ensure rapidly evolving technology, including AI, supports a healthy society.

Watch this space.