Popular Science
BY MACK DEGEURIN
POSTED ON SEP 12, 2024 2:00 PM EDT
In 2024, online conspiracy theories can feel almost impossible to avoid. Podcasters, prominent public figures, and leading political figures have breathed oxygen into once fringe ideas of collusion and deception. People are listening. Nationwide, nearly half of adults surveyed by the polling firm YouGov said they believe there is a secret group of people that control world events. Nearly a third (29%) believe voting machines were manipulated to alter votes in the 2020 presidential election. A surprising amount of Americans think the Earth is flat. Anyone who’s spent time trying to refute those claims to a true believer knows how challenging of a task that can be. But what if a ChatGPT-like large language model could do some of that headache-inducing heavy lifting?