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GRAPHIC/METRO CREATIVE
With technology like artificial intelligence and social media becoming more prominent each year, experts are weighing in on how we might see the impacts of these in the coming year. Here are some of their predictions:
Further regulation on AI and data collection— While the European Union has been leading the charge when it comes to privacy and data collection regulations on the internet, Jennifer King, Stanford HAI privacy and data policy fellow, said we should expect states within the U.S. to start considering and adopting similar regulations.
King said that California and Colorado already have regulations going into effect this year that allow consumers to opt-out of AI systems that could have significant impacts.
“Companies are going to have to start thinking about what it means on the ground when customers exercise their rights, particularly en masse,” King said.
A rise in “deepfakes”— We’ve already seen some initial uses of AI technology to create fake videos of people saying or doing things that look very real. James Landay, the director of research at Stanford HAI, said we should expect these deepfakes to become even more common in 2024. Landay cautions that we’ll need to be more vigilant about videos on the internet and whether or not they are real.
“I think people shouldn’t be worried about AI taking over the world,” Landay said. “That’s all hype. But we should be worried about these harms that are happening now—disinformation and deepfakes.”
Blurred lines with AI relationships—As AI chatbots become more natural in their ability to have conversations, Casey Newton, a technology writer, told NPR that we will see an increase in people who are involved in relationships with AI chatbots.
Search results will be less useful—Newton also mentioned that many search engines, such as Google, have a difficult time telling the difference between AI-generated content on the web and legitimate information. This will likely lead to more search results that are blatant spam, created specifically to take advantage of the search algorithms.
More chat agents— Peter Novig, distinguished education fellow at Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, said we should expect to see more companies utilizing chat agents to accomplish tasks such as making reservations and answering basic questions.
People will share less online—Fortesa Latifi, a journalist who covers internet trends, told NPR that she sees a shift away from oversharing on social media and more toward a more thoughtful and selective approach.
The Wall Street Journal’s Ann-Marie Alcántara agreed. “People want to keep those private moments to themselves or to just their friends,” she said. “They don’t want to share it with everyone and show off their lives as much anymore.”
