Can AI-Powered Misinformation Be Countered With...AI?

In a recent article published in Arkansas Business Journal titled "AI-Powered Misinformation is World’s Biggest Short-Term Threat, Davos Report Says," experts in global cybersecurity consider how artificial intelligence could significantly multiply the negative impact of social media-driven misinformation.

"False and misleading information supercharged with cutting-edge artificial intelligence that?threatens to erode democracy?and polarize society is the top immediate risk to the global economy," concluded a report prepared by the World Economic Forum.

The report, which gathered insights from nearly 1,500 global experts from academia, business, government, the international community and civil society, is gravely concerned that generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT could create convincingly sophisticated and manipulative content – with specialize cyber skills no longer required. In a year in which billions of people will see important elections in United States, Britain, Indonesia, India, Mexico, and Pakistan, the effects of disinformation could be devastating.

However, part of the solution to mitigating the damage of AI-powered misinformation can be found in Arkansas. Dr. Nitin Agarwal, an ARA Academy Member and director of COSMOS at UA Little Rock, takes a more even-handed perspective of AI's affect on misinformation.

"While AI poses challenges in the misinformation space, it also provides opportunities to mitigate the cognitive threats posed by misinformation.," says Dr. Agarwal, who's research recently received a $5M grant from the U.S. Army to combat socio-cognitive threats. "AI and Language Learning Machines have undoubtedly exacerbated the problem of fake content by automating its creation and dissemination, whether it is deep fakes, fake blog posts, tweets, articles, messages, and the like spread by bots (computer programs). ?However, the modern AI revolution affords advanced content and network analysis capabilities at web-scale to detect and diffuse such misinformation campaigns."

In other words, fight fire with fire. While AI may enhance the effectiveness and impact of misinformation, it may also be a tool to actually counter and thwart misinformation. Located on the UA Little Rock Campus, COSMOS (the Collaboratorium of Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies) is at the vanguard of the ever-evolving field of social computing that brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers from over 15 countries. Founded in 2015, COSMOS is developing big ‘social’ data analytical tools to understand digital behaviors and forecast trends to achieve social good.

"COSMOS research center is developing theory-driven solutions validated by real-world data and transitioning such capabilities into the hands of policymakers, our warfighters, and the public by leveraging our past work on combating socio-cognitive threats and global collaborations with support from an array of federal funding agencies," says Dr. Agarwal, who adds that funding has reached $20M for research conducted by he and his team.

To learn more about COSMOS, visit cosmos.ualr.edu?to receive more details on the center's mission to make the Internet (and especially social media) a safer place.?