Montezuma County cautioned residents about misinformation circulating online through AI-generated summaries and social media flyers about county commissioner meetings in a Facebook post Sunday.
“We encourage everyone to verify what you see on Facebook and other social media platforms. Lately, we’ve seen quite a bit of incorrect information being shared – including content generated by Artificial Intelligence,” the county post said.
Spokesperson Vicki Shaffer said she has seen faulty content firsthand.
“I have a Google alert set up for Montezuma County and I get AI-generated news articles that are very obviously AI-generated, and some of them are summaries of our workshops and meetings,” Shaffer said Monday in an interview with The Journal. “Unfortunately, they're not always correct.”
AI can hallucinate, sometimes generating inaccurate or misleading information. Shaffer cited the AI-powered news site CitizenPortal.ai for its articles and summaries of county commissioner meetings as one source of AI-generated content that misstates some of the county’s objectives and plans.
“It says all over it that it is an AI-generated summary. And I think, most people, if they see that it is an AI-generated summary, they're going to take it with a grain of salt,” Shaffer said. “But not all of the Facebook information that we've been seeing says that it’s an AI-generated summary.”
Facebook posts the county suspects are AI-generated could spur misconceptions among residents about the county’s mission, according to Shaffer.
Citing an AI-generated flyer highlighting county meetings last week, the county corrected several errors in its Facebook post. For example, the flyer says superintendents discussed distributing Secure Rural Schools funds to wildfire mitigation and county planning efforts, but in reality the funds are being allocated to purchase personal protective equipment for the sheriff’s office.
The flyer also references a county department listed as “Planning and Rezoning,” which does not exist. The county has a Planning and Zoning department.
Shaffer said the flyer’s claim that the county would transition its fleet management to the vehicle leasing company Enterprise prompted the county’s corrective Facebook post.
“The county does lease some passenger vehicles, like for the Sheriff's Office, or social services,” Shaffer said. “We do lease those through Enterprise, but fleet management is done in house by the fleet department, and Enterprise doesn't even offer lease options on heavy equipment.”
Shaffer said county commissioners often receive calls from concerned residents who see the information on social media and question its accuracy, a problem compounded by AI.
“Misinformation and rumors have always been a problem,” Shaffer said. “I think AI just makes it easier. Because when something is written up by AI, it looks like it's coming from an official source, but it's not.”
Residents should rely on the county website for trustworthy information on the county’s initiatives and meetings, Shaffer said. She added residents can find county news releases, recordings and minutes of county meetings on the website.
“We want them to make sure that they're getting county-related information from the horse's mouth,” Shaffer said.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
