27 May 2025
13:00–14:30
This talk presents a module in honors seminar at Al Akhawayn University in Fall 2024, on how generative AI is used in political discourse, especially through the creation of fake material, and how this contributes to the erosion of trust in the political process.
The goal was to develop critical attitudes towards the use of AI in politics and other contexts. Students were asked to describe their existing views on generative AI in politics. This was supplemented by readings (assigned and self-selected) from current media on this topic. Then students engaged in a social experiment where they produced a piece of fake news using AI technologies and disseminated it in controlled ways. They were asked to carefully document the process, starting from deciding on a claim for the fake news, their interaction with an AI chatbot during the process of its creation, to the concerns about its dissemination and the reaction of the recipients. Finally, students wrote a reflection piece on how their perception of AI technologies, applied to politics or in general, evolved during the course of the module.
Overall, the initial attitude of students towards AI is best described as complacent. This was challenged by their readings and by engaging in a simulation of a malicious use of its generative capabilities, whereby they could see the ease with which AI tools allow to produce fake news and the credulity with which it is received by the public. The negative impact of AI-generated fake news reports on political discourse is greater than that of human-produced ones for these very reasons: no skill is required to use AI tools, and the high quality of the results increases the likelihood of their credulous reception. The resulting erosion of trust may lead to a general distrust of media.