It’s been the biggest year for elections in human history: 2024 is a “super-cycle” year in which 3.7 billion eligible voters in 72 countries had the chance to go the polls. These are also the first AI elections, where many feared that deepfakes and artificial intelligence-generated misinformation would overwhelm the democratic processes. As 2024 draws to a close, it’s instructive to take stock of how democracy did.
AI was everywhere in 2024’s elections, but deepfakes and misinformation were only part of the picture
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The more time you spend on social media, the likelier you are to have come across a viral post that seems too strange to be true. Brief scientific literacy interventions, especially those that focus on [...]
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Displacement of people, designed to cause depopulation, became a key part of the Syrian regime’s attempts to re-establish control of suburban areas of Damascus during the civil war, a study says.This post was originally published [...]
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The purpose of presidential term limits is to protect democracy and ensure democratic competition. In recent years, however, many African presidents have attempted to amend constitutions to pursue extended mandates. For example, in Kenya, a [...]
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The Kenyan government is using technology to improve governance, service delivery and national security. The progress, while welcome, has brought with it concerns about state surveillance, data protection, and violations of fundamental rights and freedoms. [...]
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Young Muslims are less interested in national politics in Scotland and instead are increasingly involved with local and global issues, research led by Newcastle University shows.This post was originally published on this site
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More than 10% of Chinese citizens who took part in a survey say they are willing to boycott Russian goods and most likely disapprove of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, says new research led by Lancaster [...]
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People are already being forced to flee the consequences of climate change to an alarming extent in the Global South, says Jan Freihardt. He believes, however, that Europe’s fear of mass climate migration is exaggerated, [...]
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Authoritarian regimes rely on patriarchal structures to consolidate their power. In Iran, this partnership serves to control women’s bodies.This post was originally published on this site
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Several top law firms are turning to specialists to beef up their artificial intelligence compliance practices in a way they wouldn’t with more established areas of law.This post was originally published on this site
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The 2012 London Olympics Games serve as a cautionary tale for local communities in host cities—a new study warns. The study by the University of Portsmouth analyzed 20 years of data, from 2001 to 2022. [...]
