With the rapid advances we’re currently seeing in generative AI, we’re also seeing a lot of concern for large scale misinformation. Any individual with sufficient technical knowledge can now spam a forum with lots of organic looking voices and generate photos to back them up. Has anyone given some thought on how we can combat this? If so, how do you think the solution should/could look? How do you personally decide whether you’re looking at a trustworthy source of information? Do you think your approach works, or are there still problems with it?
I think the basis solution is education: we need educate our children in critical thinking. Generative AI is only other one source of misinformation, like “pseudoscience” disguised as true science (false papers, manipulated data,…). It is not good that teenagers believe something is true only because it is in internet (blogs, youtube, etc)
Definitely, critical thinking abilities is something we’re sorely lacking as a society. I don’t think this is purely an education problem though. Thinking takes a lot of time and energy, both of which are scarce when you’re spending it all on just trying to survive.
However, critical thinking would only help for things like scientific claims. If someone tells you “Bob from two states over ate a burger for lunch on June 19th”, no amount of critical thinking can help you figure out whether what you read is true or not. It’s a silly example, but I think you can imagine a more serious lie that’s equally impervious to critical thinking.