A new study conducted by the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) finds that most (58%) Canadians believe they’ve personally encountered misleading or false online/social media information generated by AI over the past six months—even though half (48%) admit they’re not confident in their own ability to distinguish the difference between online/social media content generated by AI versus content created by humans.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the survey conducted by Maru Public Opinion found significant intergenerational differences in experiences and attitudes on all questions posed – with one exception: a majority (71%) of Canadians joined ranks in their belief that governments will not be able to regulate companies that generate AI content for online/social media use.
The results also revealed that more than one in five (22%) Canadians are personally experimenting with AI to generate their own content for work/school/personal use (or know of someone who is doing the same 26%).
A key takeaway from this study: credible journalism is such a crucial bulwark against misinformation and advertisers, and their agencies, have a moral imperative to ensure they’re supporting quality journalism.
News Media Canada has also launched a tool to help you identify so-called ‘fake news’. You can access our SPOT Fake News tool here.
