In AI We Trust? Raffi Krikorian (Emerson Collective): How to unleash AI “superpowers” for good?
Dec 20, 2023
Raffi Krikorian, CTO at Emerson Collective and former tech leader at Twitter, Uber, and the DNC, discusses using AI to amplify public-interest work. He explores AI’s role in elections and defending democracy. He outlines bold infrastructure and funding ideas for academic research and calls for widespread AI and civics literacy.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Grandfather's Radio Show Shaped A Public Interest View
- Raffi describes his grandfather's radio station letting farmers announce "I'm coming home," illustrating technology used to serve community needs.
- He connects that legacy to his career choices at Twitter and Uber aiming to broaden voice and civic benefits through tech.
Three AI Fronts That Will Shape Elections
- AI impacts elections across disinformation, campaigning personalization, and election administration, each needing distinct responses.
- Raffi flags audio deepfakes, AI-personalized candidate messages, and AI for monitoring vote counts or voter-file tampering.
Red Team Voting Machines With AI
- Use AI defensively to red team election infrastructure by finding vulnerabilities before adversaries do.
- Raffi recommends applying AI to open source voting machines like VotingWorks to accelerate testing and patch cycles.