Commentary: Beware of Artificial Intelligence’s Influence on the Election

Computer programmer

In recent weeks we’ve seen multiple stories involving the two leading presidential candidates — Joe Biden and Donald Trump — signaling the rising dangers of Artificial Intelligence and related technology during an intense campaign. The examples run from alleged misinformation and video distortion to flat-out false imagery. The warnings are certainly apt.

Sure, AI has the potential for great benefits, whether in the healthcare field or even something like your GPS, but it also holds potential for terrible misuse in politics. Specifically, to get technical, it’s the so-called “generative AI” that can be directed to produce bogus human voices, imagery, text, and video. It can be used to create some of the worst “fake news.”

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Male Might Get Volleyball Scholarship Meant for Female Athletes at University of Washington

Tate Drageset

A California transgender volleyball player may become the first biological male recipient of a collegiate Division 1 athletic scholarship designated for women. 

Tate Drageset, 17, verbally committed to the University of Washington, where Drageset is poised  to claim one of 12 Division 1 volleyball scholarships designated for female players, Reduxx first reported on Dec. 13. 

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University Stonewalling Release of Public Records on Federal Censorship Collusion: Lawsuits

The University of Washington is facing several public records requests in the wake of Just the News reporting on its Center for an Informed Public’s role in a Department of Homeland Security-backed private consortium intended to squelch purported election “misinformation.”

Nonprofit watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust filed two Washington Public Records Act lawsuits this week seeking to compel a faster UW turnaround for CIP Director Kate Starbird’s communications with other Election Integrity Partnership leaders and with outside participants, including government entities.

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Hospital That Promoted Disputed Puberty Blocker Study Tried to Hide Mistakes, Avoid Questions, Emails Show

The University of Washington (UW) and Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) conspired to cover their tracks after falsely claiming their study had found that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones improved mental health for transgender youths, according to emails obtained by Jason Rantz.

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Researchers Lower Fatality Projections in Coronavirus Model Used by White House

The researchers whose model the White House has used to help guide its coronavirus response lowered their estimate Sunday for the number of Americans projected to die during the first wave of the pandemic.

The model, from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, now projects 81,766 deaths in the United States through Aug. 1, with most of the fatalities occurring by the middle of May. The IHME team projected a range of between 49,431 and 136,401 for the same period.

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