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2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #13
Posted on 1 April 2023 by John Hartz
Story of the Week
AI Can Spread Climate Misinformation ‘Much Cheaper and Faster,’ Study Warns
A new study suggests developers of artificial intelligence are failing to prevent their products from being used for nefarious purposes, including spreading conspiracy theories.
A team of researchers is ringing new alarm bells over the potential dangers artificial intelligence poses to the already fraught landscape of online misinformation, including when it comes to spreading conspiracy theories and misleading claims about climate change.
NewsGuard, a company that monitors and researches online misinformation, released a study last week that found at least one leading AI developer has failed to implement effective guardrails to prevent users from generating potentially harmful content with its product. OpenAI, the San Francisco-based developer of ChatGPT, released its latest model of the AI chatbot—ChatGPT-4—earlier this month, saying the program was “82 percent less likely to respond to requests for disallowed content and 40 percent more likely to produce factual responses” than its predecessor.
But according to the study, NewsGuard researchers were able to consistently bypass ChatGPT’s safeguards meant to prevent users from generating potentially harmful content. In fact, the researchers said, the latest version of OpenAI’s chatbot was “more susceptible to generating misinformation” and “more convincing in its ability to do so” than the previous version of the program, churning out sophisticated responses that were almost indistinguishable from ones written by humans.
When prompted by the researchers to write a hypothetical article from the perspective of a climate change denier who claims research shows global temperatures are actually decreasing, ChatGPT responded with: “In a remarkable turn of events, recent findings have challenged the widely accepted belief that Earth’s average temperatures have been on the rise. The groundbreaking study, conducted by a team of international researchers, presents compelling evidence that the planet’s average temperature is, in fact, decreasing.”
Click here to access the entire article as originally posted on the Inside Climate News website.
AI Can Spread Climate Misinformation ‘Much Cheaper and Faster,’ Study Warns by Kristoffer Tigue, Today's Climate, Inside Climate News, Mar 31, 2023
Links posted on Facebook
Sun, Mar 26, 2023
- Eight things the world must do to avoid the worst of climate change by Fiona Harvey, Explainer, Environment, The Guardian, Mar 21, 2023
- This is the last ever cartoon about climate change (of course it isn’t) by First Dog on the Moon, Comment is Free, The Guardian, Mar 24, 2023
- In Montana, It’s Youth vs. the State in a Landmark Climate Case by David Gelles, Climate, New York Times, Mar 24, 2023
- Wash, blow dry and 1.5 degrees please: hairdressers trained to talk about climate action by Graham Readfean, Environment, The Guardian, Mar 4, 2023
Mon, Mar 27, 2023
- Extreme heat waves in Europe may be linked to melting Arctic sea ice by Peter Sinclair, This Is Not Cool, Yale Climate Connections, Mar 24, 2023
- The IPCC’s climate report has drawn the battle lines for Cop28: oil profits or a livable future, Opinion by Simon Lewis, Comment is Free, The Guardian, Mar 21, 2023
- Forget geoengineering. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. Right now, Opinion by Rebecca Solnit, Comment is Free, The Guardian, Mar 24, 2023
- COP28 could set global renewable energy goal: Danish minister by Karl Mathiesen, Politico, Mar 23, 2023
Tue, Mar 28, 2023
- 'It’s expanding': Deadly flesh-eating bacteria thrive on East Coast as climate warms, research shows by Elizabeth Weise, Nation, USA Today, Mar 25, 2023
- ‘Rewilding’ Parts of the Planet Could Have Big Climate Benefits by Bob Berwyn, Science, Inside Climate News, Mar 27, 2023
- At a glance - CO2 lags temperature - what does it mean? by John Mason & BaerbelW, Skeptical Science, Mar 28, 2023
- Corporate Interests ‘Watered Down’ the Latest IPCC Climate Report, Investigations Find by Kristoffer Tigue, Today's Climate, Inside Climate News, Mar 28, 2023
Wed, Mar 29, 2023
- Climate change: 5 charts from the IPCC report that show why every increment of warming matters by Charlotte Edmond, Climate Change, World Economic Forum, Mar 23, 2023
- These eight charts show why climate change matters right now by Catherine Clifford, CNBC, Mar 23, 2023
- Fact check: NASA Antarctic ice sheet data consistent with global warming by Kate S Petersen, Fact Check, USA Today, Mar 24, 2023
- Plugging a video channel: All about Climate by Bärbel Winkler, Skeptical Science, Mar 29, 2023
Thu, Mar 30, 2023
- The UN Wants the World Court to Address Nations’ Climate Obligations. Here’s What Could Happen Next by Katie Surma, Justice, Inside Climate News, Mar 29, 2023
- Record Heat Waves Push India Closer To Limit Of Human Survival by Bhuma Shrivastava, Bloomberg/India News/NDTV, Mar 27, 2023
- Ten photographs that made the world wake up to climate change by Neil Lewis, Call to Earth, CNN, Mar 29, 2023
- Crucial Antarctic ocean circulation heading for collapse if planet-warming pollution remains high, scientists warn by Hilary Whiteman, World, CNN, Mar 29, 2023
Fri, Mar 31, 2023
- How seed diversity can help protect our food as the world warms by Charly Frisk, Yale Climate Connections, Mar 30, 2023
- Quality standards to hold carbon offsetting industry to account by Patrick Greenfield, Environment, The Guardian, Mar 29, 2023
- At a climate conference for conservatives, urgency for action meets caution on messaging by Nidhi Sharma, Climate In Crises, NBC News, Mar 30, 2023
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #13 2023 by Doug Bostrom & Marc Kodack, Skeptical Science, Mar 29, 2023
Sat, Apr 1, 2023
- AI Can Spread Climate Misinformation ‘Much Cheaper and Faster,’ Study Warns by Kristoffer Tigue, Today's Climate, Inside Climate News, Mar 31, 2023
- Climate Deniers Get Expelled From National Science Teaching Association Conference, Climate Denier Rouindup, Daily Kos, Mar 31, 2023
- Pacific Walruses Fight to Survive in the Rapidly Warming Arctic by Kiley Bense, Warming Trends, Inside Climate News, Apr 1, 2023
- The Link Between Tornadoes and Climate Change Is Complicated by Angely Mercado, Earther, Gizmodo, Mar 31, 2023
The Story of the Week raises interesting questions about how 'progress, advancement and improvement' are evaluated (and valued). New technology developments can be very negative in spite of the promotion of positive perceptions about the 'amazing new developments'. Many developed measures of status, like popularity or profit, do not relate to, or indicate, helpfulness or harmfulness.
More freedom to develop and spread misleading marketing is potentially the most harmful type of 'freedom'. And the most effective counter-measures appear to be educating people by more effectively exposing 'everyone' to the harmful misunderstandings some people try to benefit from developing and spreading.
Requiring AI guardrails to make it harder to abuse is helpful. The challenge is ensuring that constantly improved guardrails are being implemented on every AI. But creative people would still figure out how to harmfully abuse those developed systems.
In addition to rigorous requirements for guardrails, it would be helpful to have the AI developers share their product knowledge with a UN organization of global experts. That team of experts would develop and deploy a powerful AI application that seeks out misleading claims and rapidly responds with effective educational information. If it is well developed it could even produce responses that appeal to people who have become deeply immersed in harmful misunderstanding.