Silicone Samples Will Turn Polling Reports Into Fake News
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed David Dozier who is a leading media authority.
On a recent Price of Business show, Host Kevin Price interviewed Dr. David Dozier. He’s a professor emeritus in the journalism school at San Diego State University. They discussed the negative impact of silicone samples on the accuracy of polling results and the public’s trust in news organizations. Between elections, public opinion polls provide policymakers and citizens alike with news about the opinions of the population. Public trust of news media is enhanced by the quality and accuracy of the polls that the media conduct and report. Lately, however, some businesses are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate “synthetic” people for what’s called “silicone samples.” AI then asks these people it hallucinates questions about public issues. According to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, trust in the news media has steadily declined over the last several decades. Publishing polling results, based on silicone or “fake” people, will lend credence to charges of “fake news.” Sadly, makers of silicone samples have formed collaborations with several polling and news organizations. AI start-up Aaru is working with news websites such as Axios to create silicone samples. Gallup is working Simile, an AI firm, to manufacture 1,000 synthetic “people” for another silicone sample. The attraction? Silicone samples are cheaper to “poll” than samples of real people. But, as they say in the computing industry, “garbage in, garbage out.” Why call it garbage? Because no actual humans will be asked their opinions. Rather, AI will use data from past opinion surveys to “project” how people with certain characteristics might answer public opinion questions now. In the 21st Century, polling has become more complex, sophisticated and expensive. Silicone samples make a bad situation worse. Such samples are heavily affected by respondent characteristics that the AI model controls. If the characteristics of these synthetic people are changed in a small way, such changes can generate large and contradictory outcomes (see www.DavidDozierBooks.com and www.linkedin.com/in/david-dozier-576b684/).
The Price of Business is one of the longest running shows of its kind in the country and is in markets coast to coast. The Host, Kevin Price, is a multi-award winning author, broadcast journalist, and syndicated columnist. He is Editor at Large for this site. Learn more about the show and its digital partners at www.PriceofBusiness.com.
David Dozier (DavidDozierBooks.com) is the author of the novel, The California Killing Field. He is a professor emeritus in the School of Journalism & Media Studies, San Diego State University. He’s an internationally recognized expert on communication management and public relations.
According to USA Business Radio, “David Dozier is a scholar of public relations and communication management, professor emeritus in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University, and author of The California Killing Field. He says fake news has become a phenomenon, political campaigns use the tactic to influence voters, and that it’s perplexing that a conspiracy-based group such as QAnon has gained national attention.
Kevin Price and David Dozier are doing a multi-part series on this important topic that will be on many different platforms, as well as on radio. Keep an eye out for the series throughout the Price of Business Digital Network and USA Business Radio.
Connect with David Dozier on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-dozier-576b684/
Check out more national news stories here.
Explore more insights at https://thedailyblaze.com/.
About Author
