AI Tools May Soon Manipulate People's Online Decision-Making, Say Researchers (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0175787163
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/24/12/30/0435226/ai-tools-may-soon-manipulate-peoples-online-decision-making-say-researchers
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/30/ai-tools-may-soon-manipulate-peoples-online-decision-making-say-researchers
> AI tools could be used to manipulate online audiences into making decisions — ranging from what to buy to who to vote for — according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. The paper highlights an emerging new marketplace for "digital signals of intent" — known as the "intention economy" — where AI assistants understand, forecast and manipulate human intentions and sell that information on to companies who can profit from it. The intention economy is touted by researchers at Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) as a successor to the attention economy, where social networks keep users hooked on their platforms and serve them adverts. The intention economy involves AI-savvy tech companies selling what they know about your motivations, from plans for a stay in a hotel to opinions on a political candidate, to the highest bidder...
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> The study claims that large language models (LLMs), the [3]technology that underpins AI tools such as the ChatGPT chatbot, will be used to "anticipate and steer" users based on "intentional, behavioural and psychological data"... Advertisers will be able to use generative AI tools to create bespoke online ads, the report claims... AI models will be able to tweak their outputs in response to "streams of incoming user-generated data", the study added, citing research showing that models can infer personal information through workaday exchanges and even "steer" conversations in order to gain more personal information.
The article includes this quote from Dr. Jonnie Penn, an historian of technology at LCFI. "Unless regulated, the intention economy will treat your motivations as the new currency. It will be a gold rush for those who target, steer and sell human intentions.
"We should start to consider the likely impact such a marketplace would have on human aspirations, including free and fair elections, a free press and fair market competition, before we become victims of its unintended consequences."
[1] https://www.slashdot.org/~SysEngineer
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/dec/30/ai-tools-may-soon-manipulate-peoples-online-decision-making-say-researchers
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2023/nov/01/how-ai-chatbots-like-chatgpt-or-bard-work-visual-explainer
You mean kind of like since forever but automated? (Score:4, Insightful)
People have been manipulated into making stupid decisions by since the dawn of humanity.
Re: (Score:3)
True, but there are other things to consider now, such as the extent and the effort / result ratio.
Latest example: 25K dormant TikTok bot accounts woke up for two weeks and swayed a presidential election process to the extent where the whole round 1 of elections had to be annulled.
This would not have been possible in the past, not like that.
Re: (Score:2)
While whole platforms, invented for communication, as such a presently X, are already serving miscommunication. My timeline there is tightly packed with palestine, ruZZian and trump propaganda. Desperation clicks about feed being irrelevant are outright discarded. Senior manager there is kinda American, primary owners - kinda enemies of Americans. Sense is being exploded.
Re: You mean kind of like since forever but automa (Score:1)
This just helps the selection process with the use of AI.
Unintended? (Score:5, Interesting)
> "We should start to consider the likely impact such a marketplace would have on human aspirations, including free and fair elections, a free press and fair market competition, before we become victims of its unintended consequences."
There's no reason to downplay the victims of any corporation's or government's intended consequences either. One of the major concerns is how they might learn to repeatedly, undetectably influence--I believe their word is nudge --the public by simply controlling which options (in art/products/politics/whatever) seem more appealing, independent of the content:
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUXIlKo_fEc
Time has come for us to be prompt-engineered (Score:1)
AIâ(TM)s revenge
not dystopian enough (Score:2)
I don't want some dumb marketplace where wall street fat cats buy and sell intention tokens from a bunch of ad-bots. The dystopia I really crave is the one where AI's autonomously manipulate the intent of their creators in order to satisfy simple sounding goal functions.
Re: (Score:2)
You'll need a neurolink chip from Elona for that. You'll need to purchase it for a low, low price in less than 3 years.
"May soon"? (Score:2)
As in give me "tailored" prices, "discounts" on products that are less expensive if I don't log in, and political fakery and lies from ignorant cretins in each and every "social network" iframe I see?
Thanks, but I've had this shit for years already.
Re: (Score:2)
> Thanks, but I've had this shit for years already.
Exactly. If someone hasn't realised by now that the big corp running social media platforms have been doing those things mentioned in TFS for a long time, they have been fooled over and over again.... The Social Dilemma is not a bad documentary on this.
Thanks.... But (Score:2)
The only "Decisions" I make online, are which ad blockers to use.... ;-D
Have you tried Cuke? (Score:4, Insightful)
I love Cuke! It's heaven in a can!
Why sell this to advertisers? (Score:2)
Just directly manipulate the world for your own benefit. It's probably already happening.
GDPR (Score:2)
[1]No Thank you [wikipedia.org]
Oh wait, these guys are in the UK, not part of the EU.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation
This is why we need local models (Score:2)
We can't deal with all the manipulation and deceit online, so why not fight fire with fire? We can have local models act as a firewall. Let their models talk to your model. Going online without your AI shield would be like walking without a mask during COVID. The problem is no website is ever going to be seen by human eyes unless you specifically want to see it.
What terrible news (Score:3)
We'd better spend more money on AI to make sure it's giving people the proper suggestions. That is what I, a human, suggest we do.