Reduced decision-making capacity as a result of decreased trust in information
In addition, the increased awareness of these trends in information production and distribution could make it harder for anyone to evaluate the trustworthiness of any information source, reducing overall trust in information. In all of these scenarios, it would be much harder for humanity to make good decisions on important issues, particularly due to declining trust in credible multipartisan sources, which could hamper attempts at cooperation and collective action. The vaccine and mask hesitancy that exacerbated Covid-19, for example, were likely the result of insufficient trust in public health advice [71]. These concerns could be especially worrying if they play out during another major world crisis. We could imagine an even more virulent pandemic, where actors exploit the opportunity to spread misinformation and disinformation to further their own ends. This could lead to dangerous practices, a significantly increased burden on health services, and much more catastrophic outcomes [64].
ENTITY
3 - Other
INTENT
3 - Other
TIMING
2 - Post-deployment
Risk ID
mit904
Domain lineage
3. Misinformation
3.2 > Pollution of information ecosystem and loss of consensus reality
Mitigation strategy
1. Prioritize and implement comprehensive regulatory and technological interventions to increase the cost for the creation and dissemination of unsupported, fabricated, or false information, specifically by eliminating financial incentives and rigorously curbing computational amplification methods. 2. Develop and deploy robust technological and institutional mechanisms to enhance the public's ability to identify trustworthy information sources and to asymmetrically "signal boost" reliable, decision-relevant information from credible multipartisan sources during periods of heightened tension or crisis. 3. Establish and routinely execute holistic systems-mapping procedures and 'red-teaming' strategies to proactively identify, analyze, and monitor adversarial epistemic actions and systemic vulnerabilities within the information ecosystem, ensuring the capacity for rapid detection and response during major world crises.