Experts Discuss AI's Role in Combating Misinformation

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly seen as a valuable tool for a variety of tasks, from combating misinformation to automating complex workflows and enhancing productivity. Experts highlight AI's potential to help media and governments identify and respond to disinformation, especially during sensitive periods like elections, while cautioning about risks such as deepfakes and the spread of misleading content. Despite AI's ability to perform multi-step tasks and support decision-making, its effectiveness is limited by the quality of input data and the risk of compounding errors—especially in long, complex processes where even a small per-step error rate can lead to significant mistakes. The prevalence of biased data is another concern, as generative AI can perpetuate harmful stereotypes, prompting collaborations to create more inclusive and representative datasets for training. Ultimately, AI is best understood not as a replacement for human judgment, but as a tool that mirrors and amplifies human insight and creativity; its impact depends significantly on how thoughtfully people engage with and guide its outputs.