Denying actors monetization opportunities will weaken the economic foundation of producing original information and continued political coverage and thereby the functioning of the public arena.
(2) By providing synopses instead of links, AI-enabled search interfaces monopolize attention rather than distributing it to actors that produce and invest in information production.
(1) AI-based synopses of topics, accounts, and concerns are subject to the mechanisms of a data-driven pull toward the mean. This threatens to weaken idiosyncrasies and specific cultural signals within the public arena.
Beyond the risk of generating factually incorrect answers, this has at least two important structural consequences:
Whereas querying a search engine returns a list of links to topically relevant sources, LLM-enabled search returns answers in text form, (...) meaning people are guided to AI-based synopses and accounts, not directly to sources and actors within the public arena.
In our article "Artificial Intelligence and the Public Arena" Ralph Schroeder and I discuss how this development leads to structural shifts within the public arena. academic.oup.com/ct/article/3...
Abstract. The public arena relies on artificial intelligence (AI) to ever greater degrees. Media structures hosting the public arena—such as Facebook, TikT
The full syllabus is here: andreasjungherr.net/wp-content/u...
We will discuss the workings of AI and how AI-enabled systems learn about the world. After these foundations, we will discuss core issues and areas at the intersection of AI and democracy. Including - risks & safety - governance - the future of work - the public arena - campaigning - autocracies.
By exaggerating the dangers of digital communication environments for democracy, we might end up damaging the very thing we wish to protect. The stories we tell about digital media and their role in democracy and society matter. We need to choose well and choose responsibly.