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Machines of Truth and Distortion – A Citizen’s Call to Action: Preparing America for the AI Flood [1]

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Date: 2025-06-12 09:26:38-04:00

The views expressed in Shorenstein Center Discussion Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University or the organizations and institutions with whom the authors are affiliated.

Discussion Papers have not undergone formal review and approval. Such papers are included in this series to elicit feedback and to encourage debate on important issues and challenges in media, politics and public policy. Copyright belongs to the author(s). A PDF of this paper is available for download here for personal use only.

The machines aren’t coming—they’re here, reshaping our world with unprecedented power while carrying persistent flaws. As artificial intelligence floods into more aspects of daily life, we face a critical choice: will we let generative AI accelerate social decay and inequality, or will we harness these powerful but imperfect tools to help solve humanity’s greatest challenges?

Every day, this technology’s impact grows more visible and consequential. Hobby Lobby now casually sells AI-generated artwork with bizarrely missing details, displacing human artists without hesitation. Meta populates Facebook and Instagram with AI-generated photos and even AI profiles with fabricated life stories. Digital commerce uses your data to personalize prices without your knowledge. What connects these developments is a sophisticated machinery of reality distortion that affects our communities in increasingly pervasive ways.

This analysis examines three interconnected crises imposing mounting burdens on American society:

The erosion of shared truth in a new AI-driven digital age

in a new AI-driven digital age The unchecked power of tech companies to shape public discourse, knowledge, and human behavior

to shape public discourse, knowledge, and human behavior The hidden economic and environmental costs of AI infrastructure citizens unknowingly bear.

At the heart of these crises lies a simple truth: too much power concentrated in too few hands. This power imbalance lets corporations control our digital landscape, economic reality, and physical environment with minimal accountability or oversight.

For citizens concerned about AI’s impact on their communities, it shows how to get involved effectively. For legislators wrestling with these transformative technologies, it outlines practical solutions that are pro-freedom, pro-consumer and creator, and anti-pollution.

Key Themes

Redistribute concentrated power – make Big Tech pay its own costs, end utility bill subsidies, protect creative work, stop profiting from degrading public trust and destabilizing society Put people, not algorithms, in control – protect privacy, enable platform choice, preserve human expertise and creativity Build resilience first – bolster essential literacies (reading, math, civic, financial) and community infrastructure, while modernizing the grid with flexible load management and “all-hands-on-deck” approaches that prioritize public benefit over concentrated profit Create real accountability – establish liability frameworks, protect whistleblowers, require companies to pay for the harms they cause and establish public oversight and governance of powerful technologies



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[1] Url: https://shorensteincenter.org/machines-truth-distortion-citizens-call-action-preparing-america-ai-flood/

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