Global Courant
Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chairman of Google, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California on May 2, 2023.
Patrick T Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
According to Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google who co-founded Schmidt Futures.
“The 2024 election is going to be a mess because social media doesn’t protect us from fake AI generated,” Schmidt told Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday. “They’re working on it, but they haven’t solved it yet. And in fact, the trust and safety groups are getting smaller, not bigger.”
While there are widespread concerns about AI’s long-term effects on society, including the potential for the technology to acquire human-like skills, Schmidt said “the near-term danger is misinformation.”
Google recently decided to stop removing false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 US election from YouTube. It said the decision sought to strike a balance between the objectives of protecting the community and being a forum for open discussion.
When asked about the policy change, Schmidt said social media should allow “free speech for people, not computers.”
“What social media should be doing is flagging all content, knowing who the users are and holding people accountable if they break the law,” Schmidt said. “It doesn’t solve the problem of you and I disagreeing on facts, but at least it lays down a basis that these are people making these claims.”
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