We Need a 'Truth Campaign' for the AI Era

- The article draws on the legacy of the "Truth" campaign, a landmark anti-smoking public health initiative launched in the late 1990s (by the American Legacy Foundation, now the Truth Initiative). It used hard-hitting, youth-targeted ads to expose Big Tobacco's lies about smoking and addiction, and is widely credited with reducing teen smoking rates. - The author argues that a similar large-scale, funded, independent public education effort is now needed to counter disinformation and manipulation from Big Tech and AI companies — e.g., about algorithmic amplification, data harvesting, and the capabilities and risks of generative AI. - Key background: The article is premised on the view that current tech regulation (e.g., EU's AI Act, US executive orders) and corporate self-governance are insufficient to inform the public, and that a federated, well-funded "truth campaign" model could fill that gap. It cites the failure of platforms to moderate effectively and the rapid, opaque rollout of AI tools as the contemporary equivalent of the tobacco industry's deception.