On the Trail: The Big Idea

“You’ve now got the possibility to blame something or attribute something to AI, as a way to kind of dismiss it or avoid accountability, if it’s something that puts you in a bad light,” said Chris McIsaac, a resident fellow in governance at the R Street Institute.

But AI is only part of the problem here — and may be a symptom of a larger issue. “I think it’s a good example of the general distrust in the information environment,” McIsaac told me Monday…

So, here we are: less than three months ahead of an election that both sides claim is existential to democracy, and the leading candidates are not sparring over policy, but over facts. That is a crisis of trust.

How do we get out of this moment? McIsaac noted that this distrust could affect how and whether Americans vote at all. Election officials across the country are working to fight misinformation and to regain trust as the source of election-related information. The National Association of Secretaries of State launched an information campaign to promote clear messaging on how to vote. Individual election officials across the country have attempted to bat down election misinformation.

“They’ve been being very proactive this election cycle to try and kind of solidify their position as the trusted source of reputable election information, particularly as it relates to questions of when and where to vote,” McIsaac said.