NEWS: Microsoft And OpenAI Launch $2M Fund To Counter Election Deepfakes, by Paul Sawers, published in TechCrunch (Available Here)

In an effort to combat the growing risks associated with AI-generated disinformation, Microsoft and OpenAI have announced a new investment, in what they term a “societal resilience fund.” The funds will be distributed to organizations such as the Coalition for Content Provenance Authenticity (C2PA) and the Partnership on AI (PAI) to educate diverse groups of people on the responsible use of AI as well as its limitations. This initiative comes as concerns grow around the use of technology to interfere in elections this year, when over two billion people will vote. 

ANALYSIS: How Generative AI is Helping Fact-Checkers Flag Election Disinformation, But Is Less Useful in the Global South, by Gretel Kahn, published in Global Investigative Journalism Network (Available Here)

In this interview, GIJN contributor Gretel Kahn interviews three fact-checkers from Norway, Georgia and Ghana on how they use AI as part of their work. Tools they use include AI software that extracts features from photos and matches them to confirmed images of regions, countries and cities and a tank classifier that identifies military vehicles used in warzones. A more common tool, ChatGPT, is also used to help fact-checkers sort through information in dense spreadsheets as well as helping to codify prototypes and experiment with ideas in a faster way. While these tools are providing some assistance, the article highlights significant limitations in the applicability of AI systems for countries in the Global South due to language limitations. 

ANALYSIS: Infertility And More: How American Influencers Are Spreading Misinformation About Birth Control Online, by FP Explainers, Published in FirstPost (Available Here) 

Coinciding with tightening restrictions on abortion and hesitancy to consult doctors, more Americans are turning to influencers on social media who are offering unproven, and sometimes harmful advice while promoting their own unregulated products. Misinformation narratives that are being spread include claims that birth control causes infertility, low libido, and altered attraction - all claims that lack medical evidence. The analysis mentions an ideological element to this trend with conservative influencers such as Candace Owens and others attacking the use of contraceptives, calling them “divorce pills”, while promoting anti-abortion policies to their audiences.