AI & Disinformation | Echo Chambers in an Age of Division

AI & Disinformation | Echo Chambers in an Age of Division
Vicar Sayeedi
January 8, 2022

Disinformation, or its contemporary moniker, ‘fake news’, isn’t a new phenomenon. In fact, it’s something that humankind has lived with for centuries and millennia. Since the beginning of human history and continuing right through the Middle Ages [Medieval Period], disinformation was perpetuated via gossip in the Royal Courts and similarly, in the marketplace. It was also employed by generals and politicians to gain strategic or tactical advantage in battles or in negotiations.

Since the Renaissance and the commercialization of the Gutenberg Printing Press, some books arriving in the marketplace contained outright falsehoods, but people believed them because they trusted everything in print. They’d read certain fallacies in a book, a brochure or on a poster but because of the hallowed aura surrounding books in their culture, they couldn’t accept that these were falsehoods. Historically, most cultures have had great reverence for texts and for those who engage in writing them, so they implicitly trusted any information rendered in print. Before the Gutenberg Printing Press, codices [handwritten, handbound and hand-decorated volumes] were the exclusive purview of the Aristocracy, the Church and Royals – the nobility of society – and as such, virtually all people held these codices in the highest esteem and as beyond reproach. Questioning the veracity of texts was never a consideration.

But as society transitioned from the Renaissance and into the Modern Period, they gradually learned to question the source of the information in books. One way for them to do this was to question the credibility of the publisher of a book, magazine or newspaper. If information came to them via a reputable publisher, or some other credible institution, citizens learned to expect that the information in them was probably reliable and truthful. But other sources of information – tabloids and other salacious forms of journalism – continued to permeate the marketplace and were broadly recognized and understood by society to be embellished truths or outright falsehoods.

During the Middle Ages, Heinrich Kramer, a German Catholic Clergyman from Speyer wrote a book titled, “The Hammer of the Witch”, or in Latin, “Malleus Maleficarum”. It was a “do it yourself” manual on how to identify, capture, torture, interrogate and then murder someone suspected of being a witch. Given the apparent proliferation of witches during that era, it seems everyone needed their own copy for their household and so “Malleus Maeficarum” became a best seller. People genuinely believed in witches and thus the book had great value in society. Of course, the entire episode surrounding witches was irrational and utter disinformation, but it didn’t matter since so many people believed it, despite the efforts of many of society’s leaders to reason with them. Until society eventually accepted that the notion of witchcraft was an outright falsehood, many thousands of innocent women faced terrible inquisitions and ordeals before finally being put to death. “Malleus Maleficarum” taught their executioners how.

The situation in those times is not unlike our present reality in which people trust news or other information because it’s being presented to them on the Internet, via their social media news stream or via their WhatsApp message stream. For them, the Internet is held with the same reverence as books and codices were by their forbears five centuries ago. But today, something is very different and that something is Artificial Intelligence. AI is a proxy or substitute for human intelligence – wherever human intelligence is required, AI can step in, and it can do so with a level of performance that increases with each passing day. As a result, there’s been a fundamental change in how the decision is made on which news stories and current events we are presented with on the various digital platforms we commonly use, and that change has been brought about following the introduction of Artificial Intelligence in social media.

The most credible, powerful and technically sophisticated platforms including Facebook, Google Search and YouTube deliberately mislead hundreds of millions of people around the world with near impunity and they do so for commercial benefit. The objective of these Tech giants is to keep users [ordinary citizens] engaged on their platform for as long as possible so they can continue to collect information about them with an end goal of perpetually refining user profiles. This enables the companies to increase the value of these profiles to potential advertisers whilst simultaneously serving them with advertisements.

The Artificial Intelligence enabled algorithms behind these social media platforms have learned that tailoring each individual user’s news stream with news, images and videos [essentially preparing a customized, dynamic newspaper for each user] that makes them angry, agitated or excited is very effective in maximizing the time they will spend on these platforms. Consequently, the platform user gets trapped in echo chambers where they continue to hear stories and see videos that align with the narrative that they are most comfortable with, regardless of whether that narrative or any supporting stories they’re receiving are true. Unfortunately, the goal of the AI Agents behind the platforms isn’t to ensure that society is presented with balanced, objective or truthful stories – the function of the 4th Estate – but simply to maximize user engagement, and thus profitability. Perhaps most alarming is that it isn’t unsophisticated tabloid journals that are perpetuating disinformation throughout society, but rather it’s the work of the most advanced, sophisticated and wealthiest technological institutions in the world who have deftly avoided accountability – they move so quickly that the damage has often been done long before legislators and regulators begin to understand the consequences.

There are many fault lines in American society today: culture, education, income, race and rural versus urban lifestyle are the major ones. But regardless of which individual fault line or set of fault lines trouble a particular individual or community, the use of AI in social media is exacerbating societal divisions and tensions to a point where there is no possibility of people from different sides of these fault lines to engage with one another and talk about their differences. They are now so filled with hate towards each other that reconciliation seems impossible.

The owners of and investors in AI-enabled social media platforms are the richest companies in the history of commerce, and they have no incentive to change their ways. The cozy financial relationship between these firms and the legislative bodies and regulatory agencies precludes any possibility of addressing the disinformation crisis that is now tearing through the fabric of America’s Liberal Democracy. There have been congressional hearings, but the requisite changes are nowhere in sight and with a midterm election this autumn and a general election in 2024, the consequences of our state of political divide may be devastating. On January 3, 2022, a poll from NPR and Ipsos indicated that nearly 70% of Americans believe that their democracy is in crisis and the events of January 6, 2021 may be but a prelude to what lies ahead. It is unclear whether our polity will endure these tests.







Vicar Sayeedi is a Computer Scientist and Bell Labs Alumnus, a Lecturer and a Consultant. He is also the author of several books. His most recent book is about Artificial Intelligence and is titled, The Génome Affair.

Vicar has lectured widely about Artificial Intelligence. Vicar has recently lectured in New York at the National Hemophilia Foundation about AI & the Life Sciences. He has also lectured in London in the Royal Boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster, in Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley, the National Library of Singapore as well as in Düsseldorf [with invitations extended to Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Rome, Stockholm & Vienna] on AI and its implications for individuals and societies. Vicar has lectured at leading companies, as well.

Vicar is most interested in the big questions facing humankind. He is particularly focused on studying at the confluence of the five great disciplines of Human History, Political Science and Thought, International Affairs, Science and Technology. For geopolitical technologists, the symbiosis at this intersection offers a deep understanding and pedagogically important lessons of how advances in human endeavor have influenced and impacted civilization.

Vicar has been writing books, essays and poetry for many years. For the past 30 years, Vicar has worked in the Technology and Pharmaceutical industries. He is currently a Consultant in the Life Sciences Industry and lives in suburban Chicago with his wife and their three grown children.


You can find Vicar’s recent book on AI, The Génome Affair on Amazon at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YQ7M9Q7

The most recent episodes of Vicar’s ai & u! Podcast are on YouTube at the following links:

Episode 1 - https://youtu.be/yNYr28jtY_k
What is Artificial Intelligence? What is Human Intelligence?

Episode 2 - https://youtu.be/kAEgDNh1Nwc
How Did We Get Here? Machine Learning, Neural Networks & the AI Lexicon, Exciting AI Agents

Episode 3 - https://youtu.be/3PYCyv1pCgM
Deep Mind - How Powerful is Narrow AI? State Surveillance and Surveillance Capitalism

Episode 4 - https://youtu.be/WvobCMIM_H4
Impact on Societies That Possess Artificial Intelligence Versus Those that Do Not!

Episode 5 - https://youtu.be/4JVpvm4g79g
Surveillance Capitalism, Surveillance State, 4th Industrial Revolution, Bifurcation of Sapiens

Episode 6 - https://youtu.be/e1q2GgcWQok
AI, Blockchain & Quantum Computing - Implications for Global and National Governance

Episode 7 - https://youtu.be/4bDSUvrOdd4
Popular Perceptions of Intelligence, the Seat of Human Intelligence and Implications for AI

Episode 8 - https://youtu.be/3GjHqQZL7Pk
AI - Why Should I care? Plus Exciting Updates from Elon Musk and Neuralink!

Episode 9 - https://youtu.be/enpecqDecC8
AI - Excellence, Innovation & Genius

Episode 10 - https://youtu.be/UsriESlTjdA
Implications for AI as China and the West Decouple

Episode 11 - https://youtu.be/0CpaMb-yw3g
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Law & Society

Episode 12 - https://youtu.be/PLzodrLWMq0
AI & Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems

Episode 13 - https://youtu.be/Lm_nrNyJRbA
AI & the Future of Work in Industry 4.0 – the 4th Industrial Revolution

Episode 14 - https://youtu.be/_3E1Mhr_Dt8
Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Authoritarianism and Democracy

Episode 15 - https://youtu.be/IpMUqHOEd7w
Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness & the Future of Homo Sapiens

Episode 16 - https://youtu.be/mIf7_VMzGKo
AI and its Implications for America's Political Environment

Episode 17 - https://youtu.be/gsMRPnovZGI
Special Episode: Reading From The Génome Affair

Episode 18 - https://youtu.be/UxNxtWDCREM
Artificial Intelligence - Digital Tyranny, Datocracy and the Imitation Game

Episode 19 - https://youtu.be/Db8U0QQWWuY
Does Artificial Intelligence Really Replicate Human Intelligence?

Episode 20 - https://youtu.be/Np18AEq-6DM
AI & Rising Geopolitical Tensions Between China & The West

Episode 21 - https://youtu.be/fOMSvNiixA0
AI & In-vitro Fertilization [IVF]

Episode 22 - https://youtu.be/EQPpRhIV6Kw
AI & Human Intelligence: A Complex Relationship

Episode 23 - https://youtu.be/EAbQ7stY7JQ
AI Upends the World of Structural Biology

Episode 24 - https://youtu.be/Bsb1F8uoBpA
AI & COVID-19: An Extraordinary Contribution

Episode 25 - https://youtu.be/PqL5PCRc8tA
AI, Connectomics & Transhumanism: the Future of Humankind

Episode 26 - https://youtu.be/HI8Zjl8VM8U
Dramatic Upheaval Inside Google's Ethical AI Team

Episode 27 - https://youtu.be/TqWwJYc2GxQ
AI & Cyber Espionage | How Will the Sunburst Attack Affect Our Security?

Episode 28 - https://youtu.be/89BcThqgcfQ
AI & the Rapidly Escalating Threat from Deep Fake Videos

Episode 29 - https://youtu.be/zvOHRMmJNB4
AI, Facial Recognition Technology & The Digital Surveillance State

Episode 30 - https://youtu.be/br4ygfEWdk0
AI & Social Media | The Most Destructive AI We've Ever Seen?

Episode 31 - https://youtu.be/sOy12ii8zwM
The Democratization of AI & The 2021 Maiflower Expedition | Plymouth, England to Plymouth, MA

Episode 32 - https://youtu.be/bixdLL74reE
Sino-American Cold War | A Blessing in Disguise for America?

Episode 33 - https://youtu.be/tTRm312DgMc
AI & the Tyranny of Meritocracy

Episode 34 - https://youtu.be/FpPzC5VP6GM
In the Midst of Chaos and Pandemic | A Big AI Announcement From the Trump Administration

Episode 35 - https://youtu.be/bK3xCBwrG8w
Artificial Super Intelligence – Can We Control It?

Episode 36 - https://youtu.be/Rc60DQ0L86Q
A New America | Hope with a Big Dose of Caution

Episode 37 - https://youtu.be/UBenYYHbYqM
Will AI [Science & Tech] Benefit From a New Cold War with China?

Episode 38 - https://youtu.be/JewJnPywnOU
Will AI Eventually Replace All Other Forms of Government?

Episode 39 - https://youtu.be/ibuJ8vozyqg
Will AI Perpetuate Bias in Employment, Health Systems, Law and Society?

Episode 40 - https://youtu.be/IJYbPfGC-08
AI | Will it be the Bain of Cyber Criminals?

Episode 41 - https://youtu.be/ozrO5_XTYKQ
AI | What Will it Mean for the Future of Work?

Episode 42 - https://youtu.be/kDKapDK-Vb0
AI | A Harbinger for the End of Democracy?

Episode 43 - https://youtu.be/7XeNyE8CA9I
AI & the Life Sciences | Developments in Connectomics & Radiology

Episode 44 - https://youtu.be/mWaPW_UolVo
AI & Geopolitics | Critical Strategic Planning in the Age of China

Episode 45 - https://youtu.be/qOSOc3vJRBk
AI & Humankind | What Might the Future Hold?

Episode 46 - https://youtu.be/atMSV1WAFkg
AI Enabled Surveillance | An Important Tool to Contain Dangerous Personality Traits?

Episode 47 - https://youtu.be/kz7-EDmlGXc
Will AI Favor Authoritarianism or Democracy?

Episode 48 - https://youtu.be/uTvKWQgdOaI
AI | A Key Enabler of Universal Basic Income?

Episode 49 - https://youtu.be/sy48Xqo-3qM
AI & The Future of Government, Industry, Markets &Trade

Episode 50 - https://youtu.be/JU1oGzb5TS0
AI & Surveillance | America’s New Strategy in the Middle East

Episode 51 - https://youtu.be/nOCQjUxLWJY
AI-Enabled Global Government | An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

Episode 52 - https://youtu.be/g1VJqiI3HyE
AI & Healthcare | What Will the Future Look Like? Will it be More Equitable?

Episode 53 - https://youtu.be/ie9KAg_kF7Q
AI & Surveillance | The Ethical Dilemma of Facial Recognition Software

Episode 54 - https://youtu.be/ie9KAg_kF7Q
AI & Regulation | Europe is Leading the Way

Episode 55 - https://youtu.be/l-gcYTZMsm8
AI & Consciousness | Will Machines Soon be Sentient?

Episode 56 - https://youtu.be/-8BaouCn9cs
AI & Regulation | Europe Announces New Rules

Episode 57 - https://youtu.be/243zm7aHImQ
AI & Human Emotion Recognition | Is it Inherently Flawed?

Episode 58 - https://youtu.be/rdXllGj8rbo
AI & Autonomous Vehicles | Where are We Now?

Episode 59 - https://youtu.be/EMbqpN5mbqw
AI & the 4 Little Trees | More on Emotion Recognition

Episode 60 - https://youtu.be/K5wtkj-VTrk
AI & the Colonial Pipeline Attack | Cyber Threats are Growing Rapidly

Episode 61 - https://youtu.be/03KysO3VJgI
AI & the Coronavirus | A Postmortem

Episode 62 - https://youtu.be/7wmSIWgbuQI
AI on the Battlefield | The Conflict in Gaza

Episode 63 - https://youtu.be/a_1AmLJD3lo
AI and Xenophobia | Will We Finally Break the Cycle?

Episode 64 - https://youtu.be/9s-Go1TYK9c
AI, Cyber Attacks & the Future of War | Where are We Headed?

Episode 65 - https://youtu.be/1nKbTMzfpqM
Artificial Intelligence | Humankind’s Final and Greatest Invention

Episode 66 - https://youtu.be/cplR62KTa88
America & the 4th Industrial Revolution | Where do We Go from Here?

Episode 67 - https://youtu.be/RMrqreI-PRw
Artificial Intelligence | [Digital] Life After Death

Episode 68 - https://youtu.be/KzR8NkVdT0Q
Artificial Intelligence | The Fear Factor

Episode 69 - https://youtu.be/BI0HqACc4Ek
Artificial Intelligence | The Trust Factor

Episode 70 - https://youtu.be/nKhqVtQC_NI
Artificial Intelligence | Implications for the Future of Democracy

Episode 71 - https://youtu.be/GKD5hXmnpTU
Artificial Intelligence | Deep Fakes & Pornography

Episode 72 - https://youtu.be/KJdoBm5Kmw8
Artificial Intelligence | Working in the 21st Century

Episode 73 - https://youtu.be/lLY6gF_eeas
AI & Disinformation | Implications for Democracy & Geopolitics

Episode 74 - https://youtu.be/URsauWURj5A
AI, Climate Change & Pandemics | A Case for Global Governance?

Episode 75 - https://youtu.be/cu7xOHpNiO4
Artificial Intelligence | New Year’s Resolutions & Societal Reformation

Episode 76 - https://youtu.be/1-orEsKg5fM
Artificial Intelligence | Meritocracy and the Gathering Storm

Episode 77 - https://youtu.be/jYzyrxhxCJk
AI, Authoritarianism & Democracy | What Does the Future Hold?

Episode 78 – https://youtu.be/G5dlaB8TZJQ
AI & Speciation | Symbiosis and the 4th Industrial Revolution

Episode 79 – https://youtu.be/8pq2ZAxRdcY
AI and Disinformation | Echo Chambers in an Age of Division