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Texas Deadly Floods: Who Is To Blame for the Devastation?

Texas Deadly Floods: Who Is To Blame for the Devastation?

Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job

Why a College Degree No Longer Guarantees a Good Job

From Red vs. Blue to Common Sense: Solving Money in Politics Together

From Red vs. Blue to Common Sense: Solving Money in Politics Together

The American Flag's Meaning: Hope and Heartache

The American Flag's Meaning: Hope and Heartache

I Fought To Keep VOA Independent. Now It’s Gone.

I Fought To Keep VOA Independent. Now It’s Gone.

Podcast: Misinformation, hate and accountability

Podcast: Misinformation, hate and accountability
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumApr 12, 2022
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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The Anti-Defamation League has a long history of countering hate, bias, and harmful misinformation, which is to say the organization has some strong opinions about what happens on social media. Continuing our exploration of digital disinformation and free speech, Civic Genius chatted with Lauren Krapf, Technology Policy & Advocacy Counsel at the Anti-Defamation League, about how the ADL thinks tech companies can do better and what misinformation looks like in the real world – both online and off.

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Donald Trump
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Congress Bill Spotlight: Trump Derangement Syndrome Research Act

Musk’s Third Party, RCV in NYC, and Miami Backlash
Democracy

Expand Democracy: Musk’s Third Party, RCV in NYC, and Miami Backlash

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Ten Things the Future Will Say We Got Wrong About AI

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Getty Images, Dragos Condrea

Ten Things the Future Will Say We Got Wrong About AI

As we look back on 1776 after this July 4th holiday, it's a good opportunity to skip forward and predict what our forebears will think of us. When our descendants assess our policies, ideas, and culture, what will they see? What errors, born of myopia, inertia, or misplaced priorities, will they lay at our feet regarding today's revolutionary technology—artificial intelligence? From their vantage point, with AI's potential and perils laid bare, their evaluation will likely determine that we got at least ten things wrong.

One glaring failure will be our delay in embracing obviously superior AI-driven technologies like autonomous vehicles (AVs). Despite the clear safety benefits—tens of thousands of lives saved annually, reduced congestion, enhanced accessibility—we allowed a patchwork of outdated regulations, public apprehension, and corporate squabbling to keep these life-saving machines largely off our roads. The future will see our hesitation as a moral and economic misstep, favoring human error over demonstrated algorithmic superiority.

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Just the Facts: Digital Services Tax
people sitting down near table with assorted laptop computers
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Just the Facts: Digital Services Tax

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he has ended trade talks with Canada and will soon announce a new tariff rate for that country, as stated in a Truth Social post.

The decision to end the months-long negotiations came after Canada announced a digital service tax (DST) that Trump called “a direct and blatant attack on our Country.”

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Entertainment Can Improve How Democrats and Republicans See Each Other

Since the development of American mass media culture in the mid-20th century, numerous examples of entertainment media have tried to improve attitudes towards those who have traditionally held little power.

Getty Images, skynesher

Entertainment Can Improve How Democrats and Republicans See Each Other

Entertainment has been used for decades to improve attitudes toward other groups, both in the U.S. and abroad. One can think of movies like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, helping change attitudes toward Black Americans, or TV shows like Rosanne, helping humanize the White working class. Efforts internationally show that media can sometimes improve attitudes toward two groups concurrently.

Substantial research shows that Americans now hold overly negative views of those across the political spectrum. Let's now learn from decades of experience using entertainment to improve attitudes of those in other groups—but also from counter-examples that have reinforced stereotypes and whose techniques should generally be avoided—in order to improve attitudes toward fellow Americans across politics. This entertainment can allow Americans across the political spectrum to have more accurate views of each other while realizing that successful cross-ideological friendships and collaborations are possible.

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Congress Must Not Undermine State Efforts To Regulate AI Harms to Children
Congress Must Not Undermine State Efforts To Regulate AI Harms to Children
Getty Images, Dmytro Betsenko

Congress Must Not Undermine State Efforts To Regulate AI Harms to Children

A cornerstone of conservative philosophy is that policy decisions should generally be left to the states. Apparently, this does not apply when the topic is artificial intelligence (AI).

In the name of promoting innovation, and at the urging of the tech industry, Congress quietly included in a 1,000-page bill a single sentence that has the power to undermine efforts to protect against the dangers of unfettered AI development. The sentence imposes a ten-year ban on state regulation of AI, including prohibiting the enforcement of laws already on the books. This brazen approach crossed the line even for conservative U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who remarked, “We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years, and giving it free rein and tying states' hands is potentially dangerous.” She’s right. And it is especially dangerous for children.

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