Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, claims that the US presidential election will be thrown into chaos by AI and disinformation
Eric Schmidt, a former Google executive, has said that massive disinformation may be spread during the 2024 US presidential election. According to him, the reason for this will be wide access to advanced artificial intelligence technologies. He shared this opinion in the Squawk Box program on CNBC.
“The 2024 elections could turn into a mess because social media does not provide adequate protection against AI-generated disinformation,” Schmidt said. “Social networks are making efforts to solve this problem, but so far to no avail. In addition, the groups responsible for user safety and trust are shrinking, not growing.”
Schmidt emphasized that while many are concerned about the long-term impact of AI on society, “the immediate threat is disinformation.”
As a reminder, Google recently refused to remove false information about massive fraud during the 2020 US elections from YouTube. The reason for this was the desire to maintain a balance between community protection and freedom of speech.
Answering the question about changing the policy, Schmidt said that social media should ensure “freedom of speech for people, not computers.”
“Social media should flag all messages, identify users, and if they break the law, they should be held accountable,” – Schmidt added. “This, of course, does not solve the problem of differences in our views of reality, but it at least creates the preconditions for understanding that there are real people behind these statements.”
