Microsoft and OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, have raised a $2 million Societal Resilience Fund (SRF) to tackle Artificial Intelligence (AI) misuse and misinformation globally.
The tech companies disclosed in a joint statement that the fund will be targeted at AI education, especially with many countries having elections this year.
“In a year when two billion people across the globe will vote in democratic elections, it is more important than ever to provide tools and information that will help people navigate an increasingly complex digital ecosystem and find authoritative resources,” the companies said.
With the fund, Microsoft and OpenAI said they hope to promote “whole-of-society resilience against the use of deceptive AI content.”
The SRF is a joint effort that follows through on public commitments that Microsoft and OpenAI have made via the White House Voluntary Commitments and the Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in the 2024 Elections.
The companies said, “Our shared goals are to combat the growing risk of bad actors using AI and deepfakes to deceive voters and undermine democracy.”
Recently, there have been concerns over the rise of AI-generated misinformation content with the increase in the development and usage of AI tools.
The Global Risks Report 2024 by the World Economic Forum listed AI-generated misinformation/disinformation as one of the top risks that countries globally will face this year. The report, which detailed the Global Risks Perception Survey findings, revealed that the advancement in AI technology now makes it easy for people to create and spread misinformation.
The report shows 53 percent of respondents saw AI misinformation as the most significant global risk in 2024.
