Realistic AI-generated images and voice recordings may be the newest threat to democracy, but they’re part of a longstanding family of deceptions.
The way to fight so-called deepfakes isn’t to develop some rumor-busting form of AI or to train the public to spot fake images. A better tactic would be to encourage a few well-known critical thinking methods — refocusing our attention, reconsidering our sources, and questioning ourselves.
Some of those critical thinking tools fall under the category of “system 2” or slow thinking as described in the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” AI is good at fooling the fast thinking “system 1” — the mode that often jumps to conclusions.
We can start by refocusing attention on policies and performance rather than gossip and rumors. So what if former President Donald Trump stumbled over a word and then blamed AI manipulation? So what if President Joe Biden forgot a date? Neither incident tells you anything about either man’s policy record or priorities.
