Thomas Freer0:01 So, what happens to democracy when AI can just make up our own opinions?0:09 So, AI is transforming nearly every part of our society as we can see, and our democracy is not really an exception to that.0:19 From new political campaigns to how the average American is getting their news, AI is changing how citizens get their information and what leaders they can trust.0:33 It makes it easier than ever to produce misinformation and deep fakes as we've been seeing.0:40 And these fake videos or AI-generated news stories can really confuse voters and hurt trust in our institutions and our political efficacy.0:54 At the same time, campaigns are using AI to target voters with very highly personalized ads.1:03 This technology can help candidates reach people more effectively, which is great, but it also raises a ton of concerns about manipulation and privacy of Americans.1:17 And governments are beginning to use AI for decision making as well, things like how to allocate resources, just like companies are doing analyzing policy outcomes or predicting social trends.1:30 And that can make government more efficient, but it also makes transparency more essential than ever.1:39 Citizens should understand how the AI algorithms work, what values guide them, especially if it's making decisions about their tax dollars or what their government decides to prioritize.1:55 And that can make government more efficient, obviously, but AI doesn't have to be a threat.2:02 It could help strengthen our democracy.2:05 Imagine like if AI tools help voters instantly fact-check political claims instead of helping politicians create fake claims, you know, or if it helped voters learn about certain policy issues tailored to what they actually care about.2:27 Use wisely, AI can definitely expand access to information and make civic participation easier than ever, but it has to be implemented carefully.2:39 The question isn't whether AI will shape democracy, it's uh whether we can use it responsibly because it definitely will impact our governments.2:48 Um if we can treat AI as a partner in democracy instead of the controller behind the scenes, um we have a chance to make our political system smarter, fairer, and more human.
Vansh Patel0:00 Hey Thomas, I think you brought up a very valid concern that AI can pose to our democracy and how it really affects voting right now.0:11 I mean, I even heard stories of last election that AI videos were throwing off the older generation uh in the media.0:22 And I mean AI is such a new thing that it's really hard for some of these older people to be able to tell it apart from the real stuff.0:35 And I think it's something that really needs to be looked into because uh it has the potential to sway elections.0:45 I mean the baby boomers right now, there's far more old people than there are young people.0:51 So I think there needs to be some sort of regulation right now for what is allowed to be made because of its potential.1:02 I mean it can potentially sway the outcome of an election just from a couple of fake videos and I think yeah, because of that you made a very valid point.
Wesley Joyce0:00 I think you brought up a very good point how it could potentially threaten us with targeted ads and um you know campaigns that s you know use AI to their advantage um in unethical ways.0:15 It's definitely a possibility.0:16 But one thing that I think could be a great benefit is um maybe silly, but if you're even in like when you actually go to vote like on election day and you're in the booth, you know, I those probably only three elections I would say I was thoroughly informed about when I stepped into the booth to vote in this past election cycle.0:36 And if you could like put on a headset or something, like talk to a AI um bot, and you know, obviously the spot would need to be nonpartisan, it'd be ch inspected by a third party, and you know, it it it ha that has to be established first.0:52 But if it could just tell you about the little elections that you don't know about, just give you a rundown of the candidates, their history, their agenda, um, stuff like that, I think that could be very beneficial and likely increase voter turnout too, you know, if people had good experiences with it.1:09 But um, yeah, I I think there's like all issues AI, there's definitely good and bad ways, but yeah.