Abstract: Science and Communication in an Age of “Synthetic Reality”

This talk explores the incredible promise AI holds by automating and accelerating knowledge discovery against the backdrop of the disruptive impacts of algorithm-enabled information ecologies on democratic societies, including online echo chambers, misinformation, and increased political polarization. Social media platforms have long relied on AI to microtarget information based on behavioral and other consumer data. Now, tech companies like Google combine digital trace data from consumers and patients with various types of biomarkers to explore new frontiers in fields like genetics or public health. This talk will discuss how data asymmetries between private industry and academic researchers make it virtually impossible for scholars to fully understand the impact that AI has on our information environment and citizens. Informed policy-making urgently requires good faith engagement on the part of AI industries with academic researchers to help societies better prepare for the far-reaching impacts of AI while serving the public good.

Biography

Dietram Scheufele examines how algorithmically curated information environments reshape how we make sense of the world around us. He’ll use his time as a One-U Responsible AI Initiative distinguished visitor to advance collaborative research on how people perceive AI, its disruptive applications, and its regulation. He’ll also collaborate with Utah faculty on grant proposals that develop strategies for AI-related public engagement. Scheufele’s recent work, for example, reveals a need to bridge divides: public sentiment on AI and its regulation is already splitting along partisan lines. In the past, that sort of divide has made it difficult to govern new technologies. “All of this is exacerbated, of course, by algorithmically curated information ecologies, especially on social media, that further sort audiences based on ideological and informational preferences and provide virtually no forum for the equitable and inclusive public debates about the responsible development of AI that we need as a society,” he said.

Scheufele’s collaborators include initiative faculty fellow Isablle Freiling—they recently published a study calling for a reimagining of science communication and research, including access to proprietary data from social media companies. Scheufele also currently serves as principal investigator for a $1.5 million John Templeton Foundation grant that uses large surveys of the public and experts to understand how people form opinions about AI and how we can better engage them in conversations about it.

Scheufele was on campus the week of August 18 to meet with potential collaborators and deliver a public lecture. He’ll return twice in the fall to advance his collaborations.

Each year, the One-U Responsible AI Initiative invites up to five distinguished visitors from academia, government, or industry to the University of Utah to stimulate discussion and future research around responsible AI. Read more about distinguished visitors.