As the election approaches we need to remember that AI is not a tool to blindly listen to before going into the voting booth. AI has the ability to hallucinate and produce inaccurate results. Much of the data which is used to educate generative AI comes from mainstream and traditional media sources. According to a recent PEW Research Study, only 29% of Americans believe that news organizations get their facts straight while 63% of Americans believe that news media is often inaccurate or misleading. Generative AI can only be as accurate as the data its using to draw conclusions so be very careful when using it to help you with voting advice, it could be wrong.
AI could play a role in determining the best places to cut government waste. According to Treasury.gov heres a brief breakdown of government spending in 2024.
The national deficit in 2024 is $1.83 trillion dollars and the total national income in 2024 is $4.92 trillion. Of our budget Social Security, Health, Net Interest, Medicare, Income Security and Veterans Benefits make up about 77% of our total budget. As far as I can tell, Elon and Trump’s proposal to cut government waste is aimed at the remaining 23%. Our deficit spending makes up 27% of our total waste. Meaning, even if we cut all foreign aid, transportation, FBI, education, disbanded the military, etc, we would still have a 4% deficit. AI can be useful for pinpointing waste however we need to have a discussion as a country on what to do about Social Security, Medicare, income security and Health Insurance (59% of the budget) if we are going to correct our government’s spending problem.
