Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
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** Sep 7, 2023
AI Brings a New Era of Social Media Manipulation

Last week, Meta--which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp--revealed a multi-year effort to remove thousands of accounts that were part of a Chinese influence campaign aimed at discrediting the United States and other adversaries. It was reportedly the largest such takedown in Meta's history, and the seventh Chinese influence operation the company has removed in the last six years.

A new RAND paper examines this real and growing threat, focusing on how Beijing may use generative artificial intelligence (large language models like ChatGPT, for example) to conduct its malign influence operations.

As AI models get better at sounding human and generating realistic images--and doing so at scale--false and deceptive messages coming from China, as well as Russia and Iran, will likely become more effective and harder to detect.

"We are at the start of a new era of potential social media manipulation," the authors write. And while there are no easy solutions, there are technical, policy, and diplomatic mitigation strategies to consider. What's most important is for the U.S. government and the broader technology and policy community to proactively address this threat now.

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Virtual or In-Person Behavioral Health Care? Many Patients Don't Get to Choose

A new RAND study finds that many patients don't have the option to choose whether their behavioral health visit is in-person or virtual. About one-third of patients going to therapy or visiting a behavioral health provider for medication said their clinicians didn't offer both telehealth and in-person care. Additionally, 32 percent said they did not typically receive the type of visit they wanted, and 45 percent did not believe their clinician considered their preference. This highlights the importance of implementing telehealth "in a manner that expands, rather than contracts, behavioral health access and options for patients," said lead author Jessica Sousa.

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Police in Schools: What the Evidence Says (and Doesn't Say)

More students may be seeing police officers in their schools as they head back to class this fall. The increased use of school resource officers, as they are known, is primarily driven by a fear of mass shootings. But according to a study by Lucy Sorensen and Yinzhi Shen of the University at Albany (SUNY) and RAND's Shawn Bushway, there isn't enough evidence to know whether placing officers in schools changes the probability of a shooting. Further, although the presence of an officer appears to reduce fights and petty crimes in schools, it also leads to more suspensions, expulsions, and arrests among students--all of which have measurable negative downstream effects.

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** RAND Recommends
- Live on CNN this week, RAND's Julia Kaufman discussed the impact of COVID-19 on schools and learning.
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- RAND researchers created a tool to help people who are pursuing postsecondary education figure out whether an income share agreement, a student loan alternative, is right for them.
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- RAND's Andrew Mulcahy was recently a guest on PRI's The World. He provided an overview of his research on U.S. prescription drug prices compared to those of other countries.
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** Events
Supply Chain Uncertainty: Building Resilience in the Face of Impending Threats
Tuesday, September 12, 2023 (Online)
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Why Don’t Food-Insecure Veterans Enroll in SNAP? Insights from New RAND Research, Government, and Veteran Organizations
Thursday, September 21, 2023 (Online)
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Navigating Science- and Technology-Focused Postsecondary Options in the Pittsburgh Region
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 (Online)
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Policy Lab: Building the U.S. Workforce Through Stackable Credentials
Thursday, September 28, 2023 (Online)
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Balancing the Needs of Requesting and Producing Parties: Getting E-Discovery Right
Tuesday and Wednesday, October 3-4, 2023 (Arlington, VA)
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** About RAND
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.

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