Alondra Nelson: AI chatbots get elections info wrong

1 big thing

Axios

News

4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Recent elections have shown us the power of bad actors using AI. But what about AI itself that's just...flawed? Dr. Alondra Nelson has investigated this, with surprising results. Nelson was involved in some of the government's earliest talks about how to thoughtfully manage AI and democracy during her tenure in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Biden administration. She spoke with Axios' Ina Fried at the Axios What's Next Summit in Washington D.C. last week about chatbots in the 2024 elections and more. Plus: Niala talks to Gordon Crovitz of Newsguard about how major brands are unintentionally funding disinformation through advertising. Guests: Dr. Alondra Nelson, former acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Biden administration, professor at the Institute for Advanced Study; Gordon Crovitz, co-CEO and co-editor in chief of NewsGuard, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Credits: 1 big thing is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, and Jay Cowit. Music is composed by Alex Sugiura and Jay Cowit. You can reach us at [email protected]. You can send questions, comments and story ideas as a text or voice memo to Niala at 202-918-4893. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In a year when billions of people are going to the polls, the world has a whole new set of AI tools for sewing disinformation.
0:10.0	I think we're right to be worried. We really just cannot afford to mess this up.
0:16.0	And it's not just bad actors to watch for the tools themselves like chatbots are far from perfect.
0:22.0	We have this set of technologies right now. like chat bots are far from perfect.
0:23.0	We have this set of technologies right now.
0:25.0	It's here.
0:26.0	It's powerful and flawed.
0:29.0	A one former White House official says burgeoning AI could affect elections in 2024,
0:35.8	plus tracking the flow of misinformation from surprising sources.
0:40.0	I'm Naila Boodoo from Axios. This is one big thing.
0:49.0	I think when a lot of people think AI and elections, they're thinking about deep fakes, how Russia could use
0:55.8	the technology to send various targeted messages.
0:59.8	This actually is chief technology correspondent, Ena Freed.
1:07.0	One of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that if you use Google to get election information you're probably going to get the
1:14.9	right information. If you use one of the chatbots you may actually be getting
1:19.7	misinformation. It's not misinformation created by anyone. It's just not always right.
1:26.6	And that matters when more of the world than ever is voting this year.
1:30.5	It's not just the US. India, the world's largest democracy, recently announced
1:35.2	its six weeks of general elections start April 19th. In South Korea, Venezuela,
1:40.7	and Ukraine are also among the 60 or so countries at the polls this year.
1:45.5	Here in the US, Dr. Alandra Nelson was involved in some of the government's earliest talks
1:50.8	about how to thoughtfully manage AI and democracy.
	...

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