Latest news with #DamianCollins
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Fears AI factcheckers on X could increase promotion of conspiracy theories
A decision by Elon Musk's X social media platform to enlist artificial intelligence chatbots to draft factchecks risks increasing the promotion of 'lies and conspiracy theories', a former UK technology minister has warned. Damian Collins accused Musk's firm of 'leaving it to bots to edit the news' after X announced on Tuesday that it would allow large language modelsto write community notes to clarify or correct contentious posts, before they are approved for publication by users. The notes have previously been written by humans. X said using AI to write factchecking notes – which sit beneath some X posts – 'advances the state of the art in improving information quality on the internet'. Keith Coleman, the vice president of product at X, said humans would review AI-generated notes and the note would appear only if people with a variety of viewpoints found it useful. 'We designed this pilot to be AI helping humans, with humans deciding,' he said. 'We believe this can deliver both high quality and high trust. Additionally we published a paper along with the launch of our pilot, co-authored with professors and researchers from MIT, University of Washington, Harvard and Stanford laying out why this combination of AI and humans is such a promising direction.' But Collins said the system was already open to abuse and that AI agents working on community notes could allow 'the industrial manipulation of what people see and decide to trust' on the platform, which has about 600 million users. It is the latest pushback against human factcheckers by US tech firms. Last month Google said user-created fact checks, including by professional factchecking organisations, would be deprioritised in its search results. It said such checks were 'no longer providing significant additional value for users'. In January, Meta announced it was scrapping human factcheckers in the US and would adopt its own community notes system on Instagram, Facebook and Threads. X's research paper outlining its new factchecking system criticised professional factchecking as often slow and limited in scale and said it 'lacks trust by large sections of the public'. AI-created community notes 'have the potential to be faster to produce, less effort to generate, and of high quality', it said. Human and AI-written notes would be submitted into the same pool and X users would vote for which were most useful and should appear on the platform. AI would draft 'a neutral well-evidenced summary', the research paper said. Trust in community notes 'stems not from who drafts the notes, but from the people that evaluate them,' it said. But Andy Dudfield, the head of AI at the UK factchecking organisation Full Fact, said: 'These plans risk increasing the already significant burden on human reviewers to check even more draft Notes, opening the door to a worrying and plausible situation in which Notes could be drafted, reviewed, and published entirely by AI without the careful consideration that human input provides.' Samuel Stockwell, a research associate at the Centre for Emerging Technology and Security at the Alan Turing Institute, said: 'AI can help factcheckers process the huge volumes of claims flowing daily through social media, but much will depend on the quality of safeguards X puts in place against the risk that these AI 'note writers' could hallucinate and amplify misinformation in their outputs. AI chatbots often struggle with nuance and context, but are good at confidently providing answers that sound persuasive even when untrue. That could be a dangerous combination if not effectively addressed by the platform.' Researchers have found that people perceived human-authored community notes as significantly more trustworthy than simple misinformation flags. An analysis of several hundred misleading posts on X in the run up to last year's presidential election found that in three-quarters of cases, accurate community notes were not being displayed, indicating they were not being upvoted by users. These misleading posts, including claims that Democrats were importing illegal voters and the 2020 presidential election was stolen, amassed more than 2bn views, according to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.
Perth Now
17-06-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Experts reveal prediction for Perth house prices in 2026
Perth property values are on solid ground as supply struggles to keep pace with demand, according to two new reports. Property forecaster Domain claims Perth house prices are on track to grow 5 per cent both this year and in 2026, adding almost $50,000 to the value of a house in each year. It said Perth units are on track to grow 6 per cent this year and next year, adding about $33,000 to the value of units in each year. It comes as Momentum Wealth Property Sentiment Report 2025 — which surveyed 500 investors — shows they are continuing to see their best prospects in Perth. A national survey by the group showed 48.7 per cent said Perth is the best place to buy — up from 42.2 per cent in 2024 — with 19.5 per cent this year nominating Melbourne and 17.1 per cent targeting Brisbane. Momentum Wealth boss Damian Collins said investors were impressed with Perth's comparative affordability, superior rental yields and its tenancy laws. Perth's average rental yields were 4.3 per cent, higher than the national average of 3.7 per cent.
Telegraph
09-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
ITV break-up talks spark alarm over local news
Moves towards a break-up of ITV have sparked fears the broadcaster's local news programming would be put at risk of cuts. ITV is currently in discussions over a potential deal with All3Media, the maker of shows including The Traitors and Race Across The World, that would create a new £3bn British production powerhouse. A tie-up with All3Media, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi fund RedBird IMI, could see ITV Studios spun out into a new company listed on the London Stock Exchange, leaving its broadcasting arm as a standalone entity. RedBird IMI is also owner of an option to take control of The Telegraph but has been blocked from doing so by a ban on foreign state ownership of newspapers. The fund promised ministers it would sell up a year ago but has so far failed to meet the pledge. Its talks over ITV have now triggered concerns about the sustainability of the broadcaster's traditional TV business amid a decline in advertising revenues and as audiences flock to streaming rivals. Damian Collins, former chairman of the culture select committee, drew comparisons with Channel 4, which last year posted a record £52m deficit as it grappled with an advertising slowdown. He said: 'If ITV switched to a system where the core channels and the public service remit is delivered by a purely ad-funded company, then the concern would be that that will be not sustainable. 'In the short-term, ITV have got to meet their obligations to their licence, in the longer run there's a concern as to whether companies like ITV wish to remain public broadcasters.' John Whittingdale, the former media minister, said: 'I still believe that it is very difficult to sustain a purely advertising-funded channel with public service broadcasting obligations as the world changes. 'ITV have been very successful at developing their production arm, which has generated a large chunk of their revenues. But if they get rid of it, then they're sort of back to square one.' ITV's public service obligations require it deliver a variety of UK-made programming in the public interest, including its national and local news output. In exchange, it receives access to spectrum and holds the channel three slot, guaranteeing it prominence on TV programme guides. The broadcaster renewed its licence last year, meaning it is committed to these obligations until the end of 2034. However, industry observers fear ITV may choose not to retain its public service broadcasting status beyond this date as the benefits of a prominent channel slot wane in the streaming world. Any such move would spell uncertainty for ITV's regional news programming, which is thought to cost the broadcaster in the region of £100m per year. Mr Collins added: 'The problem for a TV channel is if you're relying on a TV ad market that is dwindling, and you've got to start making cuts, where are you going to start making them? Probably on the things that are making less money.' 'Real threat' Regional news is a costly but crucial component of broadcasters' public service remit, particularly amid a sharp decline in the number of local newspapers across the country. It also has vocal support from MPs, who view it as a key way of gaining coverage and reaching their constituents. ITV, which was formed through a merger of scores of regional franchises, explored plans to abandon its regional news output entirely in 2009, with programming to be provided instead by a number of independently funded news consortia. However, the plans were abandoned following opposition from MPs. The future of ITV's local news output will be cast into further doubt as ministers explore plans for a switch-off of terrestrial TV, which is currently also slated for 2034. Stewart Purvis, the former chief executive of ITN and Channel 4 board member, said ITV would continue to broadcast local news while it had a regional terrestrial TV network. But he added: 'In a decade's time when terrestrial TV may be turned off I think there's a real threat to local news.' The shift to streaming has prompted uncertainty over the future of public service broadcasting. New laws introduced last year will require apps and programmes from channels such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to be shown prominently on smart TVs and streaming sticks. However, it is still unclear how exactly this will work and how much it will benefit broadcasters. Sources close to ITV said the broadcaster's decision to renew its public service licence provided certainty for the next decade. They added that the company's total advertising revenue rose 2pc last year. ITV has invested heavily in its production business, which is behind hits including Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Love Island. The division, which reported record profits last year, now accounts for roughly half the group's revenues. Chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has been exploring a potential sale or spin-off of the studio business amid concerns the company is undervalued. Early-stage discussions have taken place between ITV and RedBird IMI, the UAE fund that bought production giant All3Media for £1.2bn last year. The talks have drawn criticism from Conservative MPs given RedBird IMI's botched takeover of The Telegraph and its failure to find a new buyer a year after it told ministers it would. The Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey in February said 'their priority should be getting that sorted and sold before turning their attention elsewhere'.
