474
AI Could Be the Most Effective Tool for Dismantling Democracy Ever Invented
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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Nope. I'd still say social media/social media algorithms.
Imagine if social media didn't exist (beyond small, tight-knit communities like forums about [topic], or BBS communities), but all these AI tools still did.
Susan creates an AI generated image of illegal immigrants punching toddlers, then puts it on her "news" blog full of other AI content generated to push an agenda.
Who would see it? How would it spread? Maybe a few people she knows. It'd be pretty localised, and she'd be quickly known locally as a crank. She'd likely run out of steam and give up with the whole endeavour.
Add social media to the mix, and all of a sudden she has tens of thousands of eyes on her, which brings more and more. People argue against it, and that entrenches the other side even more. News media sees the amount of attention it gets and they feel they have to report, and the whole thing keeps growing. Wealthy people who can benefit from the bullshit start funding it and it continues to grow still.
You don't need AI to do this, it just makes it even easier. You do need social media to do this. The whole model simply wouldn't work without it.
This has been going on for a lot longer than we've had LLMs everywhere.
Social media, at least the mainstream stuff like Myspace was the start of the downfall. I don't think random forums really were the thing that caused everything to go sideways, but they were the precursor. Facebook has ruined things for generations to come.