Since the beginning of January I’ve been contributing to MediaChecker, a Georgian language media and digital literacy platform in Tbilisi run by a very capable team of local journalists under editor-in-chief George Gogua, a media professional that I’ve known for over 10 years now. Its mission statement is below.
Mediachecker is a media criticism and analysis platform that analyzes journalistic products published online, on television, and in the print media. We offer a space for discussion on professional standards and journalistic ethics. Journalists at the editorial office monitor broadcasters, the printed press, and the online media every day to prepare material about any revealed trends.
Anyway, two pieces have been published so far, with a third waiting in the wings.
Andrew Tate case raises concerns of social media as a gateway to harmful online content
What happened?
On 27 December, social media influencer and former kickboxer Andrew Tate trolled environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter, boasting of his collection of 33 luxury cars. The British-American asked Thunberg to give him her email address so he could send her a list of them along with their ‘enormous [carbon] emissions.’
Thunberg tweeted back with a put down that is currently the 4th most liked tweet on Twitter of all time. It simply read, ‘please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.’
Her tweet was liked 3.9 million times.
Tate responded with a video rant that featured a Romanian pizza box. The same day he was arrested by police in Bucharest as part of an investigation into human trafficking and rape. Some believed Tate had given his location away because of the video, but that has been since been officially denied.
Romanian police also raided his luxury home in Budapest and seized nearly $4 million of assets. This included 11 vehicles, the sale of which, if Tate is found guilty, could be used to financially compensate his victims.
What’s the problem?
In recent years, the use of social media by extremists has lured many into the clutches of radical and sometimes violent ideology. Though often minor in terms of the number of followers, individuals such as Tate had millions.
A self-confessed misogynist, Tate used his social media platforms for hate speech, including racist and homophobic slurs, but especially outbursts against women.
Why does this matter?
Social media has the power to influence impressionable minds online, and especially teenage boys. Moreover, experts warn, posts by individuals such as Tate could prove to be a ‘gateway’ to other extremist and violent content.
Broader Picture
According to Vice, multiple young women have been accusing Andrew Tate in violence and harassment. A documentary, released on January 12th, this year, contains several interviews with the victims in the UK, who have unsuccessfully trying to get the police investigate the matter.
In one of the videos, circulating in the social media, Tate even claimed he kept a machete next to his bed so that if ever a woman accused him of cheating, he would use it on her. He also said that rape victims were partly responsible for they own assault.
Tate’s brand of ‘toxic masculinity’ has alarmed those concerned by the effect Tate has had on teenage boys who increasingly see him as a role model.
So, concerning is this influence on teenage boys that schools in the United Kingdom are even holding school meetings to address the effect that Tate’s posts have had on schoolchildren.
“Tate’s speeches not only scream of toxic masculinity, misogyny and victim blaming, but they express a deep lack of care for other people as human beings,” one teacher told The Independent newspaper.
What’s the background?
Andrew Tate, a self-professed misogynist, was eventually banned from YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook in 2022 for his comments about women. Meta, the company that owns Facebook, even said that Tate had been flagged under its ‘dangerous individuals and organizations’ criteria.
Tate had been banned from Twitter too but was re-instated in November last year when Elon Musk acquired the company.
Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter has raised many concerns that the controversial multi-billionaire will allow it to become a safe-haven for far-right and other toxic ideologies despite the platform’s policy to prevent this under its previous ownership.
The full piece in Georgian is here.
Chat GPT and the Future of Journalism
What Happened?
In recent months, social media has been full of text content automatically generated by a new artificially intelligent chatbot, Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, better known to most as ChatGPT.
It quickly caught the imagination of hundreds of thousands of users with its detailed responses to questions and its ability to perform tasks as diverse as writing poetry or song lyrics and even writing articles and stories.
ChatGPT has also reportedly generated exam essays and even passed the finals for Masters Degree level university courses.
Launched as a prototype in 30 November last year, ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI, is now valued at $29 billion.
Background
Having a computer generate responses to actual questions has long been a gold standard in testing artificial intelligence. In 1950, for example, Alan Turing, the English mathematician and computer scientist best known for deciphering German secret ciphers during World War II, even devised the “Imitation Game” to evaluate just that.
In what is also known as the Turing Test, the goal was for a computer to respond in such a way through text communication that the person asking the question thought they were actually conversing with another human.
The test was not to determine whether the computer could answer questions correctly but whether or not its responses could imitate that.
Though simplistic by today’s standards for benchmarking AI, The Turing Test remains an important measurement in artificial intelligence.
Last Summer, it was claimed that Google’s LaMDA AI had passed the test while in December 2022 the same was claimed for ChatGPT.
But many critics argue that fooling a panel of judges into thinking a computer was human is more about deception than actual intelligence.
Why does it matter?
The applications for artificial intelligence are far-reaching. Customer service call centres would have access to data and information more extensive than any human could.
Translation has already come a long way but machine learning would make it more accurate and support lesser-known minority languages.
AI-generated video can also assist producing compelling content even without a dedicated staff to do so.
Mediachecker already uses AI-generated thumbnails for its content.
Why should I care?
As they say, with great power comes great responsibility, but the world of artificial intelligence and algorithms remains unregulated with little oversight despite growing concerns in recent years.
In January 2023, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the University of Oxford described ChatGPT’s speed and capabilities as ‘awe-inspiring and frightening at the same time.”
“We know from years of research that people will always use technologies in ways that their creators did not intend,” wrote Janet Haven for Nieman Lab.
“We will see ChatGPT and tools like it used in adversarial ways that are intended to undermine trust in information environments,” she added.
The media, however, faces the greatest challenges.
In one test by the FastCompany, for example, ChatGPT invented quotes for an article.
“Unfortunately, often, when an inexperienced journalist uses artificial intelligence, instead of diversifying the material, it may even damage something,” Lennart Hofeditz recently told MediaChecker.
But there might be some cause for optimism. In another test by SkyNews, ChatGPT was asked if journalists need to adapt to artificial intelligence.
“It is important for journalists to be aware of the advances in AI and how they can potentially impact the journalism industry,” ChatGPT responded. “However, rather than needing to adapt to AI, it is more important for journalists to focus on honing their craft and staying up-to-date with the latest developments in their field.”
The full piece in Georgian is here.
