The Potential of Truth Technologies: Artificial Intelligence for Societal Resilience

Sammanfattning

Societal resilience is fundamental for navigating sustainable development while being seriously challenged by misinformation and disinformation in the post-truth era. The thesis’ purpose is to explore how AI-driven truth technologies can be developed and utilised to mitigate mis- and disinformation. Three research questions are answered to illustrate the potential of truth technologies by (1) clarifying expectations that provide common ground and identifying promising opportunities for scaling, (2) anticipating serious risks that must be mitigated, and (3) outlining management principles to guide future development. Data is collected through 23 semi-structured qualitative interviews with distinguished professionals and academics from the field. The results show AI is expected to be used to circulate effective disinformation, while truth technologies will become mature and widespread. Opportunities with truth technologies include improved fact-checking, evaluation of publishing sources, and the contextualisation of information. Risks are technical limitations like oversimplifications and biases, users’ overreliance, and manipulation or censorship. Management principles propose that truth technologies should be effectively and practically regulated; should be decentralised, transparent, and explainable; trustworthy bodies should oversee them; and their use complemented by education in critical thinking, with ethics considered. The discussion emphasises that truth technologies are an effective solution to false information, will be scaled, and face immediate obstacles and advanced risks. Effective management is the bottleneck to successful large-scale adoption. Further, truth technologies can be a disruptive technology, should be effectively used in hybrid models with human oversight, and underlying power structures need to be managed.