# USC International Day of Democracy event takes a hard look at AI’s evolving impact - USC Today

*Источник: USC Today*
*Дата: 2026-09-17*
*Язык: en*

**Кратко:** USC International Day of Democracy event takes a hard look at AI’s evolving impact
Trojan faculty experts in political behavior, artificial intelligence and media literacy weigh in on global pressures and possible solutions. Nearly 200 students, faculty and staff members filled The Forum at USC’s Ronald Tutor Campus Center on Tuesday for a wide-ranging and at times sobering discussion that focused on artificial intelligence’s evolving impact on political behavior and media literacy.

USC International Day of Democracy event takes a hard look at AI’s evolving impact
Trojan faculty experts in political behavior, artificial intelligence and media literacy weigh in on global pressures and possible solutions.
Nearly 200 students, faculty and staff members filled The Forum at USC’s Ronald Tutor Campus Center on Tuesday for a wide-ranging and at times sobering discussion that focused on artificial intelligence’s evolving impact on political behavior and media literacy.
The USC Open Dialogue Project event on the University Park Campus — moderated by USC President Beong-Soo Kim — coincided with International Day of Democracy and National Voter Registration Day.
“What better way to commemorate this day than by having a conversation with some of our amazing faculty membersabout democracy, the challenges to democracy around the globe today and also what we can all do about it,” Kim said during his opening remarks.
A trio of Trojan professors specializing in political behavior, artificial intelligence and media literacy provided insight on global pressures such as political polarization, eroding trust in institutions, and AI-generated misinformation, among other topics.
“These are timely issues because the acceleration of development of these technologies is incredible, and we can hardly keep up,” Professor Emilio Ferrara of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering said. “We’re also lacking the tools that typically come from regulation and policies. … We are a bit behind, and I’m a bit concerned about where we are.”
Ferrara was joined on the panel by Gordon Stables, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism director of schools and clinical professor, and Associate Professor Eric Kramon of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. All three have been doing work that touches on the theory and practice of democracy, both in the United States and across the globe.
A society saturated with information
Stables, an expert on media literacy and on how people can more intentionally navigate the information they consume, said he tells his students that they now have more access to information than President Harry S. Truman did when he was faced with the decision of whether to use atomic weapons during World War II.
“We’re in this landscape where we’re the most saturated with information in human history, and our institutions and our systems haven’t really caught up to teach us [managing] skills,” said Stables.
He also pointed out that while the First Amendment guarantees the right of free press and free expression, it does not guarantee an economic model for that to exist.
“We need to make sure that we’re building media and social institutions that earn our trust with the acknowledgment that gatekeeping is inherent,” Stables said. “Algorithms have an incentive to make institutions unpopular because if your choice is subscribing to a news organization [or] having your own uniquely curated feed, the latter supports their advertising goals.”
Striving for engagement across differences
Kramon’s international field research focuses on political behavior, identity and democratic deliberation. That includes how engagement across differences can shape openness to new ideas.
He said the online space can be “very dehumanizing” for both polarized sides, and has conducted deliberativedemocracy programs that facilitate bringing people together and seeing the other side as a human with a point of view.
“The real challenge with polarization is people really don’t like the other side and see the others as an enemy rather than as someone [with whom] you have a differing opinion,” Kramon said. “It’s not that it’s the only driver of democratic dysfunction or democratic breakdown. It’s a symptom of it and emerges as a really key constraint to doinganything about it.”
Still, Kramon has hope. He shared with attendees the outcome of a project in Honduras that had enduring, long-lasting depolarizing effects.
“The good news is … when you change the way people engage with information, when you add elements of humanengagement and human contact, when you take it away from these more emotionally charged environments, people dobecome more open to countervailing information — information that might go against their identity,” he said.
Students reflect on importance of topic and dialogue
Kim launched the USC Open Dialogue Project last fall to advance academic freedom, expression and discourse.
“How can we, as a university community, build a culture where we not only accept or tolerate opposing viewpoints, but actually want to learn and engage?” Kim asked the audience on Tuesday. “I think that an essential element of that culture is recognizing our shared humanity.”
Sophomore Ana Marroquin of the Keck School of Medicine of USC left the event impressed with Kramon’s international research and what it reveals about how engagement across differences can shape openness to new ideas.
“The most valuable things to do are always also the hardest things to do,” Marroquin said after the discussion. “I think democracy is one of those things that might be harder to attain and maintain but is ultimately the most rewardings ystem of governance.”
USC Graduate Student Government President Janielle Cuala has attended most of the Open Dialogue events, which she described in an interview as “valuable.”
“I appreciate that these three faculty members took the time to have this open dialogue with President Kim becausethey touched upon a lot of important things, such as AI and trust,” said Cuala, a Keck School of Medicine graduate student. “As long as we continue the conversation, I think we’re on the right track.”

[Оригинал](https://today.usc.edu/usc-international-day-of-democracy-event-dialogue/)