Key role in elections

By Alex P. Vidal

“AI is a tool. The choice about how it gets deployed is ours.”—Oren Etzioni

IT seems there is a strong basis for fears that Artificial Intelligence (AI) may play a key role in the coming elections worldwide, including the Philippines.

The widespread influence of AI is actually expected to be featured in the first election this year 2024, during and after voters cast their ballots. This may be felt in the making and distribution of public messages about candidates as well as electoral processes.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been working hard to help address the impact of AI on our democracy, including educating the public about what to expect in upcoming political campaigns and recommending policy solutions lawmakers should adopt to mitigate the greatest risks to our election system.

It was reported CLC has particularly highlighted the danger of political ads that use AI technology to generate deceptively realistic false content — such as “deepfakes,” which are manipulated media that depict people doing or saying things they didn’t say or do, or events that didn’t really occur — to mislead the public about what candidates are asserting, their positions on issues, and even whether certain events actually happened.

If left unchecked, Adav Noti of Advancing Democracy Through Law has warned these fraudulent and deceptive uses of AI could infringe on voters’ fundamental right to make informed decisions.

This development came as Microsoft, the tech titan most closely associated with AI, has announced nearly $10 billion in investments in artificial intelligence abroad in recent months, the price it is reportedly willing to pay to remain a top player in this crucial market.

The overnight success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT thrust generative AI as Silicon Valley’s latest tech revolution, lifting Microsoft, OpenAI’s main backer, to become the world’s most valuable company.

Since then, it was reported that the maker of Windows and its rival Google have been competing furiously, rolling out tools that produce text, images or lines of code on the basis of a simple query.

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PERFECT VIEW. A man burdened with life’s trials and hardships asked God, “Why so many hills and mountains to climb in life?” God answers him, “For you to have a better view.”

OUR REAL MEASURE. Hardship is one way of measuring one’s strength, so if our problems are extra big, let us be extra flattered because that is how much God believes in us.

EINSTEIN’S BIG BLUNDER.  This is a cosmic mystery story which states that the future of the universe lies in the hands of dark energy, an unknown form of energy that caused cosmic expansion to begin accelerating a few billion years ago. According to latest study, Einstein failed to recognize the dark energy.

CELIBATE. The Kama Sutra was written by Mallanga Vatsyayana, who was rumored to be celibate.

EVOLUTION OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE IS REBIRTH OF SOCIETY. We have enriched this universe with diverse ideas for thousands of years with shifting of one paradigm to another. We have abundance of ancient and modern ideas way back from Babylonian and Egyptian antiquity, but only human knowledge has made a dramatic impact in our evolution as society.

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ALL IN THE NAME OF RELIGION. During the 20th Century 110 million people were killed by their own kind in 250 wars–mostly religious wars in the name of sectarian “gods.” Casualties of religious battles had been dumped in the biggest killing fields in the world.

TEACH IT, PLEASE. Sex education was first introduced into English schools in 1889. (After more than 100 years, many schools in “conservative” countries are still hesitant to teach sex education!)

LESS ATTRACTIVE. People who regularly watch pornos find their partners in real life increasingly less sexy, regardless of how attractive they are.

ANTI-TOOTH DECAY. Semen contains zinc and calcium, both of which are proven to prevent tooth decay.

SPEARM banks keep their donor semen at approximately -321 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, it could be kept indefinitely.

POPULAR. The condom is the most popular form of contraception globally with four in 10 choosing it ahead of any other form of protection.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)