Disinformation that has been “scaled up and weaponised” on social networking platforms presents a major challenge and threat to democracy and media credibility, N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited, said on Sunday.
Speaking at the opening session of the fifth World Media Summit (WMS) held in Guangzhou, China, Mr. Ram said Artificial Intelligence (AI) and disinformation were “two key areas in which major and potentially disruptive challenges could become opportunities for the media to do well, empower themselves in new ways, and pursue a path of sustained development.”
“It is widely understood within media organisations that AI’s applications and implications for journalism as well as for media business operations will be major and transformative. But the realisation is also growing that AI models on the market are ‘ultimately a prediction engine’ learning from the past,” Mr. Ram observed. “They are also known to fabricate facts and make up references and links, and they can be manipulated to produce false images and articles. Moreover, they can perpetuate current prejudices. Exploring and innovating in this promising but slippery field is truly a challenge for the media industry.”
