From Monterey Herald
Monning joins forces to battle election disinformation
By Dennis L. Taylor
A respected former Central Coast state senator has thrown his weight behind a new initiative that aims to combat disinformation generated by artificial intelligence ahead of future elections.
California Senate Majority Leader Emeritus Bill Monning, who represented the Central Coast Senate District 17 from 2012 to 2020 and Assembly District 27 four years prior, has joined the ranks of a new nonpartisan group focused on solutions to the threat AI has on America’s system of elections and institutions...
Unfortunately, it seems those who want to believe will believe anything. Hany Farid, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and a professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley, and a member of Berkeley’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, has found a significant portion of the public to be highly vulnerable to disinformation in general, even before the advent of deepfakes.
“A recent poll, for example, found that 25% of Americans believe the completely unfounded claim that the FBI was responsible for the Jan. 6th insurrection — this false belief has nothing to do with deepfakes,” Farid said in an email interview with the Herald. “Deepfakes, however, are sure to make the problem of disinformation worse...”
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information.
