AI slop isn’t going away – what does that mean for the US midterms?
As the 2026 US midterms approach, AI-generated content (and particularly slop, the low-grade content optimized for broad distribution and engagement) is no longer a peripheral nuisance but a structural feature of the information environment voters need to navigate. This public roundtable, as a follow-up to Columbia’s Slop Salon and published proceedings, brings together leading researchers and practitioners to unpack the stakes: how synthetic content is produced and distributed at scale, how it interacts with platform incentives and moderation gaps, and what its proliferation means for electoral integrity and democratic trust in this contested moment.
Opening Remarks:
- Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Journalist; Professor of Professional Practice, IGP Faculty Advisory Board Member, IGP’s Technology & Democracy Initiative Codirector, and Inaugural IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow, Columbia SIPA
Speakers:
- Ryan Beiermeister, Partner at Founders Fund; Former VP of Product Policy at OpenAI
- Renée DiResta, Associate Research Professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy
- Isabel Linzer, Elections and Democracy Policy Analyst, Center for Democracy & Technology
- Aidan Walker, Creator-in-Residence at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Camille François (moderator), Assistant Professor of Practice of International and Public Affairs; Codirector of IGP’s Technology & Democracy Initiative, Columbia SIPA
Sponsors:
This event is organized by IGP’s Technology & Democracy Initiative and cosponsored by the Technology Policy and Innovation Concentration at Columbia SIPA
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