This document discusses how generative AI can promote a healthier world by addressing challenges in the current information environment. It begins by noting that the author developed this slide deck to support public health efforts and has made it available for others to use under an open license. It then discusses how diminished trust in officials coupled with diverse online platforms has created an environment vulnerable to the spread of misinformation. Finally, it suggests that debunking misinformation alone is not enough and that the larger social and cultural forces behind misinformation must be addressed through evidence-based socio-behavioral and epidemiological approaches.
8. Challenges in the information environment need to be
identified and adressed.
9. 02
“Mistrust is the outgrowth of
the perception that promises
were broken and values were
violated.”
--Dr. Barbara Reynolds
More: US CDC, Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication (CERC), https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/
10. Why is addressing our current information
environment so difficult in public health?
Diminished public trust in
officials, coupled with
increasing diversity of
online platforms, creates
a context vulnerable to
the spread of
misinformation.
Over the past 15 years, narratives that influence knowledge, attitudes,
perceptions, and behaviors related to public health emergencies have
circulated faster in our increasingly digitized society. To keep pace,
health authorities must be quicker to identify and respond to circulating
narratives.
Debunking misinformation will have
limited effectiveness unless the larger
social and cultural forces that bolster
misinformation are addressed, which
requires evidence-based approaches that
leverage socio-behavioral and
epidemiological insights.
Exerpted from the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Workshop on Navigating Infodemics and Building Trust during Public Health Emergencies, April 2023