According to a study on the media, conservative-leaning media is less opposed to artificial intelligence than liberal-leaning media.
Although artificial intelligence is gradually becoming a part of our everyday life, it is still a contentious technology. According to recent studies, American media that leans left is more likely than conservative media to be critical of artificial intelligence.
In addition to observing this discrepancy in coverage, a study that was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science also determined why. The results may not be applicable worldwide because the research was limited to American periodicals.
The reason liberal media opposes AI more than conservative media does is because they are more interested in highlighting societal injustices such as racial, gender, and economic inequality. The publications that this study was centered on were American.
According to our findings, the liberal media’s distaste for AI can be linked to worries that technology would amplify societal biases. We looked into privacy and employment issues as potential explanations for the difference in attitudes towards AI between conservative and liberal media, in addition to social bias concerns. First, it’s plausible that liberal media members are more wary of AI because they worry more about privacy violations. In an email exchange with indianexpress.com, co-author of the paper Angela Yi stated, “Alternatively, it is also possible that conservative media values the efficiency and corporate productivity caused by AI, which is why liberal media may be more resistant to AI.”
However, when conducting the analysis, they discovered that the reason liberal media is less receptive to AI than conservative media is not due to privacy or employment concerns. In essence, the aversion is not actually explained by those other theories.
These results may have significant ramifications for upcoming political debates concerning artificial intelligence. This is due to the fact that public opinion is frequently inferred from media sentiment. This in turn may influence the positions of policymakers.
How research was done on the media
Researchers compiled a list of stories about AI from various media sites in order to investigate public opinion towards the technology. They then used the ratings from AllSides’ Media Bias Rating Chart to calculate the partisan sentiment of each outlet. Subsequently, they included pieces from more conservative publications like The Wall Street Journal and New York Post, as well as items from a combination of liberal publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post.
From May 2019 to May 2021, the publications they downloaded were chosen from the outlets according to certain standards, such as the use of important terms like “algorithm” or “artificial intelligence.” Keep in mind that this occurred a long time before ChatGPT launched in November 2022.
They used an automated text analysis tool to do an emotional tone analysis on each tale after compiling a dataset of more than 7,500 stories. The programme determined the difference between a text’s percentage of terms that elicit pleasant emotions and those that elicit negative emotions. This disparity was normalized to create the emotional tone measure, which was then rated from 0 to 100.
What the investigators discovered
According to the study, publications from conservative media outlets tend to be more positive about AI than those from liberal media outlets. Essentially, it appeared that left media was more against AI than conservative media.
The main reason for this hostility from liberal media is that AI may amplify racial, gender, and economic inequalities, among other social prejudices. The conservative media did not seem to be as concerned about this. It’s interesting to note that the researchers also looked at whether George Floyd’s passing affected media perceptions about AI.
The death of George Floyd increased the unfavorable mood in the media towards AI. We reasoned that this tragedy may have increased social bias concerns in the media because Floyd’s murder spurred a national discourse about social prejudices in society. As anticipated, we discover that social bias issues were raised by his passing in the AI-related media pieces. According to Yi, this rise in social bias concerns in AI-related media pieces contributed to the articles’ more negative tone.
The study’s co-authors emphasize that this research is “descriptive rather than prescriptive” and does not advocate for a particular approach to discussing ar0tificial intelligence. In essence, they are not arguing that the media, whether liberal or conservative, is doing it correctly. Rather, the researchers only demonstrated how the media sentiment clearly differs.
