How AI can help to prevent the spread of disinformation

Our industry has a duty to discuss the dark side of technology. Yet many organisations -- including some that wield enormous power and influence -- are reluctant to acknowledge that their platforms are used to spread disinformation, foster hatred, facilitate bullying, and much else that makes our world a worse place in which to live. Disinformation -- what is sometimes called "fake news" -- is a prime example of the unintended consequences of new technology. Its purpose is purely to create discord; it poisons public discourse and feeds festering hatreds with a litany of lies. What makes disinformation so effective is that it exploits characteristics of human nature such as confirmation bias, then seizes on the smallest seed of doubt and amplifies it with untruths and obfuscation.