CIP’s Starbird: With generative AI, we’re ‘entering a period where we’re going to get higher-quality disinformation and propaganda’

Aug 1, 2023

In a recent Wired interview, University of Washington Center for an Informed Public director Kate Starbird, a UW Human Centered Design and Engineering associate professor, discussed how generative AI is lowering the financial barrier for creating content that’s tailored for certain audiences. 

“We’ve been pretty well tricked by very low-quality content. We are entering a period where we’re going to get higher-quality disinformation and propaganda,” Starbird told journalist Thor Benson. “It’s going to be much easier to produce content that’s tailored for specific audiences than it ever was before. I think we’re just going to have to be aware that that’s here now.”


Image at top: In May, an AI-generated image purported to show a large fire at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia had circulated on Twitter, which led to confusion and a temporary dip in the stock market (via CNN).

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