MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Sub-Category · 55.04.04
Widespread use of persuasive tools contributes to splintered epistemic communities
Category: Worsened epistemic processes for society
Description
"Even without deliberate misuse, widespread use of powerful persuasion tools could have negative impacts. If such tools were used by many different groups to advance many different ideas, we could see the world splintering into isolated “epistemic communities”, with little room for dialogue or transfer between communities. A similar scenario could emerge via the increasing personalisation of people’s online experiences—in other words, we may see a continuation of the trend towards “filter bubbles” and “echo chambers”, driven by content selection algorithms, that some argue is already happening
From A Survey of the Potential Long-term Impacts of AI: How AI Could Lead to Long-term Changes in Science, Cooperation, Power, Epistemics and Values (Clarke2023), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).
Classification
- Domain
- 3. Misinformation
- Causal entity
- Human
- Intent
- Unintentional
- Timing
- Other
Subdomain definition: Highly personalized AI-generated misinformation creating “filter bubbles” where individuals only see what matches their existing beliefs, undermining shared reality, weakening social cohesion and political processes.
Real-world incidents in this subdomain
- Google Books Appears to Be Indexing Works Written by AI
- Uptick in Low-Quality AI-Produced Content Degraded Publishers' Submission Management
- Korean Politician Employed Deepfake as Campaign Representative
- Facebook Political Ad Delivery Algorithms Inferred Users' Political Alignment, Inhibiting Political Campaigns' Reach
How other frameworks describe this risk
Other entries from Clarke2023
- Risks from accelerating scientific progress
- Eased development of technologies that make a global catastrophe more likely
- Eased development of technologies that make a global catastrophe more likely
- Faster scientific progress makes it harder for governance to keep pace with development
- Faster scientific progress makes it harder for governance to keep pace with development
- Worsened conflict
- AI enables development of weapons of mass destruction
- AI enables automation of military decision-making
- AI-induced strategic instability
- Resource conflicts driven by AI development
- Increased power concentration and inequality
- Unequal distribution of harms and benefits