Former Google CEO Warns "2024 Election Will Be Messed Up by AI-Driven Misinformation"

Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google who has warned about artificial intelligence (AI), stated that ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, confusion could increase as AI-generated misinformation spreads.

On the 26th (local time), Schmidt appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box and said, "The 2024 election will be a mess because social media will fail to protect us from AI-generated misinformation." He added, "We are working to solve this problem, but it has not been resolved yet," and pointed out, "In fact, trust and safety teams are shrinking."

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Schmidt has been a prominent figure expressing concerns about the impact of AI on society. He identified the short-term risk as "misinformation," while highlighting broad concerns about AI's long-term effects on society.

Regarding Google's recent decision to remove claims of fraud in the 2020 U.S. election from YouTube, Schmidt said, "(Social media) should allow freedom of the press for humans, not computers." He emphasized, "What social media should do is indicate who the user is for all content and hold them accountable if they break the law. While it cannot resolve factual disputes, at least it establishes that the person making the claim is human."

Earlier, Schmidt warned of an "existential risk," stating that in the near future, AI could kill or injure many humans. He pointed out that AI could exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities and discover new types of biology that could be misused. He also assessed that because such AI technology requires advanced expertise, it could pose greater risks than nuclear technology, which could have been controlled.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.