CANCELLED: How do we protect the democratic information environment in an AI-powered world? Tackling online harms with computational social science and AI

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• Helen Margetts (University of Oxford)
• Wednesday 29 January 2025, 13:00-14:00
• Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Yara Kyrychenko.

THIS TALK IS CANCELLED

2023-2024 was a peak year of concern over AI safety, highlighted at the UK AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park, the creation of AI safety institutes across the world, and concerns raised by technology experts over AI-powered threats to democracy and existential risks brought by the fast pace of AI development. This talk will scrutinise the claims that have been made regarding threats from AI to democratic life in an online world. It will report research that suggests that hype over AI is having its own independent effect, that targeted political persuasion may be less effective than has been claimed, that smaller models can be as persuasive as larger models and that AI itself may be part of the solution to AI-powered harms. Research suggests that the real threats to society and democracy may come from long-running shifts in the information environment, where people start mistrusting all information and are increasingly fearful of expressing political opinions in online settings. AI and computational social science researchers will need to find new ways of understanding, measuring and mitigating these threats.

This talk is part of the Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS) series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Talks (aka the CURE list)
• Biology
• Biology
• Cambridge Neuroscience Seminars
• Cambridge talks
• Chris Davis' list
• Department of Psychiatry talks stream
• Featured lists
• Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge
• Guy Emerson's list
• Life Science
• Life Sciences
• Life Sciences
• ME Seminar
• Neuroscience
• Neuroscience Seminars
• Neuroscience Seminars
• Psychology talks and events
• Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS)
• Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine
• Well-being Institute Seminars
• Yishu's list
• dh539
• my_list
• other talks

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.