![\"Disinformation](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Democracy-Dies-in-Misinformation-Panel-Discussion.jpg\")
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On April 16, the Marymount Institute hosted \u201cDemocracy Dies in Misinformation,\u201d the last event in \u201cBeing Human in an Age of AI<\/a>,\u201d a series that brought together scholars\u00a0across disciplines who are grappling with the many dimensions of artificial intelligence at a moment when AI is reshaping public life, the workplace, and higher education. Their conversations mirrored a broader debate unfolding in news coverage and on social media about the growing value of distinctly human skills as AI becomes more pervasive.<\/p>\n Kate Pickert<\/a>,\u00a0associate professor of journalism,\u00a0opened\u00a0the\u00a0panel\u00a0by\u00a0emphasizing the value of\u00a0journalists: they continue to investigate, verify, and report on information that keeps democracy thriving, while\u00a0doing the\u00a0difficult work\u00a0of\u00a0debunking deepfakes.\u00a0While trust in the news is at an all-time low (Gallup<\/a>), and\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0an increase in negative sentiment surrounding AI among Generation Z\u00a0(Gallup)<\/a>, Picket relayed a positive spin on the relationship between the two.\u00a0She suggested there might be a \u201cboomerang effect\u201d in play. Juxtaposing the \u201cAI slop,\u201d audiences can better tune into the value of journalism. Also, when used appropriately, journalists can\u00a0benefit\u00a0from AI. Newsrooms are already using AI for aid in spelling, grammar, and transcription; to help develop story summaries, news announcements, and briefs; to generate audio from\u00a0text,\u00a0and\u00a0analyze large data sets. Pickert suggested journalists can use AI without sacrificing integrity if they use proper disclosure.\u00a0\u201cFor a long\u00a0time,\u00a0journalists just asked audiences to blindly trust us,\u201d she said. Most people\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0understand\u00a0the process of accountability and verification that journalists endure to ensure they are relaying\u00a0accurate\u00a0information. \u201cThe advent of AI gives us a new opportunity to establish trust,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n John Parrish<\/a>,\u00a0chief of staff to the president, VP for institutional strategy, and\u00a0professor of political science,\u00a0followed Pickert by reminding the audience that misinformation\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0new in politics; this is just the newest iteration of a tired story.\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0new is the growth in scale and scope AI, which has overwhelmed our existing defensive capabilities. Parrish noted that AI technologies bear a resemblance to two other, older forms of \u201cartificial intelligence\u201d \u2013 the state and the corporation \u2013 to which we have also offloaded\u00a0more and more\u00a0of our moral agency. Parrish concluded, \u201cNo one will be in control of AI.\u201d Rather than try to block these\u00a0new technologies, he suggested the best alternative is to build a new seawall for the tsunami. \u201cCapitalism has a plan with AI that\u2019s at odds with the university\u2019s plan,\u201d Parrish said, thus higher education must ethically discern how we normalize aspects of AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kai Prins<\/a>, assistant professor of communication studies,\u00a0raised the stakes, directing concern towards people who use AI to get answers about health and wellness.\u00a0In their article, \u201cUncertain and Anxiously Searching for Answers: The Roles of Negative HealthCare Experiences and Medical Mistrust in Intentions to Seek Information from Online Spaces,\u201d Prins points to uncertainty anxiety as a contributing factor\u00a0for such use.\u00a0Prins, who\u00a0has a strict no-tech rule in the classroom,\u00a0is motivated to keep students away from AI.\u00a0They\u00a0shared the popular phrase, \u201cEverything sounds like a conspiracy when you don\u2019t know how anything works,\u201d\u00a0and\u00a0pointed\u00a0to\u00a0the rhetoric companies use to sell their products\u00a0as a selling point for this stance.\u00a0Showing a recent\u00a0Grammarly commercial<\/a>,\u00a0Prins argued\u00a0companies present people as \u201chapless and hopeless dummies who need to outsource intelligence to make decisions.\u201d\u00a0Further, Prins addressed\u00a0OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s recent comment that\u00a0AI will be sold as a utility\u00a0in the future.\u00a0Their\u00a0explicit\u00a0goal is to get you hooked\u00a0on AI, then monetize it, Prins points out.\u00a0With a 10% error rate, Google\u2019s AI overviews produce inaccuracies that could be devastating in the\u00a0health and wellness industry. PR manipulates search, and content from bad or misinformed actors show up in results. For everyday consumers looking for answers about their health, AI poses a major threat.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n