Comment on This chatbot pulls people away from conspiracy theories

Some are concerned that AI might be used by election deniers in this cycle. The American public is on alert about artificial intelligence and the 2024 election.

Ximena Vengoechea explains that to help prevent analysis paralysis, she decided to map her wishes and desires on a spectrum of ‘when.’ The first time I conducted my life audit, I remember looking at my wish list with a mix of excitement and trepidation. I had a clear view of what was important to me, and there was a lot.

Shortly after generative artificial intelligence hit the mainstream, researchers warned that chatbots would create a dire problem: As disinformation became easier to create, conspiracy theories would spread rampantly. Now, researchers wonder if chatbots might also offer a solution. DebunkBot, an AI chatbot designed by researchers to “very effectively persuade” users to stop believing unfounded conspiracy theories, made significant and long-lasting progress at changing people’s convictions, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. Indeed, false theories are believed by up to half of the American public and can have damaging consequences, such as discouraging vaccinations or fueling discrimination. The new findings challenge the widely held belief that facts and logic cannot combat conspiracy theories.

Denver native Keith Oelschlager has been going to Larimer Square since he was a teenager in the 1980s. It was the place where people in the neighborhood would hang out and shop. For him, that isn’t the case anymore. “I think it’s missing anything that makes me want to spend any time there,” Oelschlager said. “You have tourists walking down the street, and they’re taking pictures of the flags and lines and things that are kind of hanging up in the street, and then they just kind of leave.

SHANGHAI — In a sprawling factory in eastern Shanghai, where marshy plains have long since been converted into industrial parks, China’s most advanced chipmaker has been hard at work testing the limits of U. S. authority. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., or SMIC, is manufacturing chips with features less than one-15,000th of the thickness of a sheet of paper.

LOS ANGELES — For decades, video games have relied on scripted, stilted interactions with non-player characters to help shepherd gamers in their journeys. But as artificial intelligence technology improves, game studios are experimenting with generative AI to help build environments, assist game writers in crafting NPC dialogue and lend video games the improvisational spontaneity once reserved for table-top role-playing games. In the multiplayer game “Retail Mage,” players help run a magical furniture store and assist customers in hopes of earning a five-star review.