As long as there have been scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations, people have been labeling them as magic, witchcraft or the product of nefarious conspiracies directed by powerful, unseen actors. And now, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), conspiracy theories are popping up and posing threats to society’s trust in technology.
One reason is that although AI can predict what will happen, it cannot explain why it makes its predictions, since many of the algorithms behind AI are designed to identify relationships based on existing data, providing correlation rather than causation. This gap in people’s understanding of how AI arrives at its responses is exactly the narrative void that conspiracy theories fill.
Another reason is that the large language models underpinning new AI systems produce extremely convincing and digestible results that make people assume they’re true. Conspiracy theories also present disparate facts in neat narratives that do the heavy lifting that critical thinking demands.
AI and conspiracy theories also share a common origin that’s already regarded as suspect: elites and elite institutions. Big tech companies and government branches deploy AI and algorithms, making them an easy target for suspicion.
However, AI conspiracy beliefs might be weaponized, as geopolitical or corporate competitors could spread propaganda to undermine trust in AI implementations. Russia claimed that mpox was a US bioweapon, and China insinuated that the US Army spread the coronavirus during public health emergencies. Similarly, factions in different countries could suggest something similarly sinister about AI tools.
Counternarratives could support messaging that addresses the impact of misinformation on people’s attitudes and beliefs. Instead of the narrative that AI is controlled by private entities, the story around its development could be similar to other transformative technologies such as personal computers, democratizing people’s access to information. Algorithms could be shown as a mere reflection of ourselves, surfacing what we desire to see.
Messaging campaigns can help explain how AI is being used in specific cases, including what data is being collected, for what purposes and by whom. Such messages should emphasize broad scientific and public agreement to be effective for people who hold different worldviews or ideological leanings.
Conspiracy theories pose a threat to social harms could accelerate due to people’s susceptibility to false narratives. The way the scale tips could rest on our ability to counter such conspiracy theories – at least until AI becomes self-aware and starts taking matters into its own hands, proving all the conspiracy believers correct.
