Former Vice President Al Gore expressed disapproval for social media algorithms, likened them to “digital AR-15s,” and urged governments to ban them to protect democracy on Wednesday.
Gore was speaking on a panel at the COP28 Summit in Dubai. COP, or the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is an annual international conference that aims to set the global agenda for climate change policy.
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Gore began by arguing that the transition from print media to broadcasting, and then from broadcasting to internet media, has disrupted the allegedly harmonious state in which representative democracy used to exist.
“Because a free, self-governing people rely on a shared base of knowledge that serves as the basis for reasoning together, collectively. But if you have social media that is dominated by algorithms that pull people down these rabbit holes that are a bit like Pitcher plants, these algorithms — they are the digital equivalents of AR-15s. They ought to be banned, they really ought to be banned, it’s an abuse of the public forum,” he said.
Gore went on to explain why he thinks algorithms are especially dangerous:
“But when people are pulled down these rabbit holes, you know what’s at the bottom of these rabbit holes? That’s where the echo chamber is. And if you spend too much time in the echo chamber, what’s weaponized is another form of AI — not artificial intelligence, artificial insanity.”
The host laughed as did members of the audience, and applause broke out. “I’m serious! I’m serious!” Gore implored with a look of consternation.
AL GORE – At COP28.
Listen carefully. He says Democracy is under threat because citizens are no longer all getting the same print news (propaganda)
Algorithms (that governments can’t control) are threatening democracy.
It’s like he thinks we are stupid or insane … oh pic.twitter.com/aQe41iOhNY
— Elander & the News (@ElanderNews) December 7, 2023
The conversation was hosted by Akshat Rathi, a reporter with Bloomberg which held an in-person event at the conference for their climate news wing, “Bloomberg Green.” During the interview, Gore talked about his role in pioneering Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment, or corporate financing of climate change initiatives.
As Valuetainment previously reported, meat consumption limits have been a major topic at COP28. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which held the “Presidency” role for this year’s COP summit, has urged governments to sign a pledge to include “food transformation” in their carbon footprint reduction plans. Now, in addition to regulating meat, it would seem Gore and the COP think tankers have their sights set on social media.
Gore is a longtime climate activist, whose dire predictions have often fallen short of the truth. In 2009, Gore said that there was a “75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during some of the summer months, could be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years.” In An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s 2006 documentary about climate change (which in those days was called “global warming”), he said that the global sea level might rise as much as 20 feet “in the near future.”
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