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The disinformation caused by misinformation generated by artificial intelligence has been highlighted as one of the most significant global risks for the year 2024, a year in which approximately 3 billion people worldwide will go to the polls. A recent study revealed that three out of every five people are concerned about misinformation generated by artificial intelligence.

TURKEY - The fact that 2024 will see approximately 3 billion voters worldwide going to the polls has brought the issue of disinformation and misinformation back into critical focus. The World Economic Forum's 2024 Global Risks Report has placed the problem of disinformation at the top of the list of global risks for the next two years. The ability of generative artificial intelligence to create misleading content and artificial intelligence-supported disinformation techniques such as deepfakes are deepening this problem. During this period, as Turkey prepares for local elections in March, a platform called Yapay Gündem has been established to raise awareness about applications supported by artificial intelligence and information operations and to inform voters. Yapay Gündem was founded by Gülin Çavuş, Co-Founder of the fact-checking platform Teyit, and Mert Can Yılmaz, a research engineer at Uppsala University.

Three out of five people are concerned about misinformation produced by artificial intelligence

A study conducted with 10,000 people in the USA and the United Kingdom revealed that three out of every five people are concerned about misinformation produced by artificial intelligence. In recent weeks, in the USA, which is preparing for the presidential election in November 2024, a fake message generated by artificial intelligence called on Democratic voters in New Hampshire not to vote using the voice of US President Joe Biden. Reminding of the dangers of similar artificial intelligence techniques, Gülin Çavuş, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Yapay Gündem, said, "As humanity progresses towards the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, we are witnessing a tremendous momentum gained by artificial intelligence technologies. We must focus on the dramatic change and transformation process that humanity will undergo in the next century. On one hand, there is excitement brought by technological innovations like artificial intelligence, and on the other hand, there is the possibility that these innovations could trap us in a dystopia. Technologies capable of radically transforming every aspect of life are now at everyone's fingertips. We want to discuss topics about where this process can take humanity."

Launching in March 2024 with a special newsletter for local elections

Mert Can Yılmaz, stating that Yapay Gündem's initial focus will be on the local elections to be held in March 2024, said, "In the bi-weekly newsletter, we will analyze the potential impact of artificial intelligence-supported disinformation on elections and provide information to help voters make informed decisions. Through our newsletters specifically designed for the social reflections of artificial intelligence technologies, we will include the opinions of expert academics, journalists, and legal scholars on artificial intelligence, media, and democracy both nationally and internationally. Through the newsletters, we will offer analyses and Turkish educational materials on the potential positive and negative effects of artificial intelligence technologies on election processes and democracy in general."

Focusing on the ethical use of artificial intelligence

Gülin Çavuş, who frequently speaks and provides training on fact-checking and media literacy, and is a member of the International Press Institute (IPI) Turkey National Committee and the Board of Directors of the European Fact-Checking Standards Network, concluded her remarks with the following statements:

"The pace at which authorities and the public establish frameworks for the use of evolving technologies often lags behind the pace of these technologies' development. The potential of generative artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence-supported disinformation techniques like deepfakes can also have negative effects on democracies. Our platform, which will start its broadcast life at YapayGundem.com, will also take on the task of raising awareness about the ethical use of artificial intelligence applications and addressing the lack of resources in Turkish on this subject. Alongside the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence, we will work to support critical media literacy by conveying the concept of information operations to our readers and listeners.