Machines & Influence: An Information Systems Lens

TL;DR

This paper surveys AI capabilities within political security contexts, proposing that improved information management can help governments mitigate AI influence risks and harness AI's potential for policy and societal benefit.

Contribution

It extends Information Management concepts to analyze AI as part of complex information systems, offering a framework for better governance and risk mitigation.

Findings

AI capabilities are extensive and evolving.

Enhanced information management can mitigate AI influence risks.

Frameworks for policy and security improvements are proposed.

Abstract

Policymakers face a broader challenge of how to view AI capabilities today and where does society stand in terms of those capabilities. This paper surveys AI capabilities and tackles this very issue, exploring it in context of political security in digitally networked societies. We extend the ideas of Information Management to better understand contemporary AI systems as part of a larger and more complex information system. Comprehensively reviewing AI capabilities and contemporary man-machine interactions, we undertake conceptual development to suggest that better information management could allow states to more optimally offset the risks of AI enabled influence and better utilise the emerging capabilities which these systems have to offer to policymakers and political institutions across the world. Hopefully this long essay will actuate further debates and discussions over these ideas, and prove to be a useful contribution towards governing the future of AI.