Spreading our messageWe have in front of us a company with a technology that is perfectly geared to address one of the biggest concerns of our time. There is so much data available from so many sources. Without a reliable tool to collate it, we are at a loss. GPT is groundbreaking, but does not collate current information, and is not reliable. Even occasional use exposes the mistakes GPT can make, which will only make disinformation worse.
How is disinformation affecting us?
Israel-Palestine - Even the New York Times had to change its headlines about the hospital bombing multiple times. Social media is the new primary source of our times, but we need a reliable way to collate and vet that information. We see this daily.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/business/media/hospital-blast-gaza-reports.html
Russia-Ukraine? The Canadian government maintains a website with currently 93 entries on false information events from Russia.
https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/ukraine-fact-fait.aspx?lang=eng#dataset-filter
Armenia-Azerbaijan? The UN has acknowledged the risks of disinformation in this conflict since at least 2020 but it remains a problem that the local news have to deal with - but who are their sources?
(https://www2.coleurope.eu/system/tdf/uploads/news/event_report_-_media_and_disinformation_in_the_nagorno-karabakh_conflict.pdf?&file=1&type=node&id=draft&force=),
(https://akademie.dw.com/en/in-armenia-factchecking-disinformation-on-politics-and-war/a-61757306)
The UN has broadly stated the dangers of misinformation regarding human rights:
"...pandemic has also magnified the digital divide, and the dark side of technology: the lightning-fast spread of misinformation; the manipulation of people’s behaviour; and more. We can only address these challenges united, through strengthened cooperation: by establishing clear rules to safeguard human rights and fundamental freedoms; by regaining control over our data; by countering disinformation and hate speech." [the underline is mine]
So why is aGPT not more widely available? Maybe the rollout naturally a slow process, but the story that I tell myself is that there are powers that be that want to be in control of the information.
This tool could bring so much power to so many dispossessed.
We obviously have to wait for the more general rollout, but we need to make people aware of this technology. I feel like I have gone from an investor to an activist. Not the worst thing to be.