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• The dawn of artificial intelligence systems that can be used by almost anyone, like ChatGPT, has revolutionized business and alarmed policymakers and the public.
• Advanced technologies can feel like unstoppable forces shaping society.

Increasing civic knowledge

• Many cities, states and countries provide little to no information to the public about policy issues, political candidates or policy referendums.
• So even when citizens have the ability to exercise their democratic freedoms, they may not feel well enough informed to do so.
• However, at the moment, generative AI systems aren’t really ready to answer democracy-related questions reliably or without bias.
• Before generative AI is ready to enhance democracy, then, there’s a lot to understand and address.

Facilitating constituent communication

• Survey research reveals that fewer than half of Americans can name the three branches of government.
• Knowing the names of their own representatives, much less getting in contact with them, is even less common.
• Survey respondents who heard about this possible use of AI said they were significantly more likely than those in the control group to support the use of AI for communication with politicians, both by individuals and by advocacy groups.
• There are risks, though, including that politicians might be skeptical of communications they think are written by AI.

Maintaining authenticity and the human touch

• So far, our early research into the implications of generative AI for political communication suggests a few key lessons.
• Second, given the importance of human contact and authenticity, a critical challenge is making use of AI’s opportunities while also preserving the human touch in politics.
• While generative AI could enhance aspects of politics, we shouldn’t be too quick to automate away the relationships that underpin our social fabric.

• Kaylyn Jackson Schiff received funding from the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) at Yale University for the research study described in the article and worked as a postdoctoral associate with ISPS for the 2022-2023 academic year.
• Daniel S. Schiff does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Tethering these two krill conservation efforts allows CCAMLR to fulfill its mandate to prevent irreversible impacts on the Southern Ocean ecosystem from human activities such as fishing.
• Over the past decade, industrial krill fishing has become increasingly concentrated in areas along the Antarctic Peninsula, affecting predators that feed in those same areas.
• Without protection for large areas of the Southern Ocean and new fisheries measures, we will all suffer the consequences."
• The Pew Charitable Trusts addresses the challenges of a changing world by illuminating issues, creating common ground, and advancing ambitious projects including the need for effective marine conservation.

• The Pew Charitable Trusts announced today the six pairs of researchers who will make up its 2023 class of Innovation Fund investigators.
• These 12 acclaimed scientists—all alumni or advisors of Pew's biomedical programs in the United States and Latin America—will partner on interdisciplinary research projects exploring key questions in human biology and disease.
• For nearly 40 years, Pew has encouraged collaboration among its diverse community of biomedical scientists, leading to the 2017 launch of the Innovation Fund.
• Roozbeh Kiani, M.D., Ph.D. , 2016 Pew biomedical scholar; New York University
  Nuo Li, Ph.D. , 2018 Pew biomedical scholar; Baylor College of Medicine
  Kiani and Li will explore what happens in the brain when we change our minds, a poorly understood aspect of decision-making.

• The New Party, Operating under the Forward Name, Will Restore Trust in the Electoral Process with a Focus on Local Elections, Systemic Election Changes, and Candidate Quality
  CHARLESTON, S.C., Oct. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders of the South Carolina Independence Party and the Forward Party stood shoulder to shoulder in Charleston on Wednesday to announce they were merging to broaden the political choices available to South Carolina voters.
• Wayne Griffin, chair of the SC Independence Party, and Clint Eisenhauer, who leads the Forward Party of South Carolina, made the announcement alongside Christine Todd Whitman, two-term former Governor of NJ, former EPA Administrator, and co-founder of the national Forward Party.
• "This merger is natural because of the values the Independence Party and Forward share.
• Forward Party candidates are accountable to the voters, and they will focus on solutions, not partisan fighting, in order to serve their constituents better.