Epistemic Learned Helplessness

RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and policy recommendations across a wide range of topics including national security, technology, governance, and emerging risks. It produces influential studies on AI policy, cybersecurity, and global governance challenges. RAND's work is frequently cited by governments and policymakers worldwide.

Pew Research Center's ongoing research hub tracking how Americans consume news, their trust in media institutions, and evolving media habits across platforms. It aggregates surveys and studies on public engagement with journalism, misinformation exposure, and the shifting media landscape. This resource is relevant to understanding the epistemic environment in which AI safety information and public discourse operates.

First Draft is an organization dedicated to research and education around information disorder, misinformation, and disinformation. They developed frameworks for understanding six categories of information disorder and provide open-access educational materials under Creative Commons licensing. Their work supports journalists, researchers, and educators in identifying and countering false or misleading content.

Pennycook & Rand (2021) demonstrate that people share misinformation not due to partisan preferences but due to inattention to accuracy. Simple prompts asking users to evaluate headline accuracy significantly improve the quality of news shared, validated across survey experiments and a Twitter field experiment.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University conducts research on journalism, news media, and emerging technologies including AI's impact on newsrooms. The site covers topics such as GenAI reshaping news ecosystems, fact-checking, investigative journalism, and audience behavior including news avoidance. It serves as a hub for academic and practical analysis of media trends.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank providing data and analysis on public attitudes toward technology, AI, governance, media, and society. It conducts large-scale surveys tracking American and global opinions on AI adoption, institutional trust, news habits, and emerging technology risks. Its AI-focused research tracks public perception of AI benefits and harms over time.

The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual global survey measuring public trust in institutions including government, media, business, and NGOs. The 2023 edition would have covered trends in institutional trust, misinformation concerns, and societal polarization. However, the specific page is no longer accessible (404 error).

The MIT homepage showcases current research highlights and news from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, featuring recent work in neuroscience, AI, medical diagnostics, and photonics. It serves as a portal to MIT's broad research enterprise rather than a focused AI safety resource.

The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023 presents findings from a YouGov survey of over 93,000 online news consumers across 46 markets, documenting shifts in digital news consumption. Key findings include declining trust and interest in news, the growing influence of video-based platforms like TikTok and YouTube (especially in the Global South), and the waning influence of Facebook.

This resource is no longer accessible, returning a 404 error. The original RAND Corporation research report cannot be retrieved or summarized from available content. The page has either moved or been retired.

The News Literacy Project is a nonprofit organization providing free educational resources and a virtual classroom platform (Checkology) to help K-12 students identify misinformation, understand media bias, evaluate sources, and think critically about digital information. It supports educators across all 50 US states with lessons covering misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, algorithms, and journalistic integrity.

Seligman's foundational 1972 work on learned helplessness describes how repeated exposure to uncontrollable negative events leads organisms to stop attempting to escape or influence outcomes, even when control becomes possible. This psychological phenomenon has broad implications for understanding passivity, depression, and agency. It is relevant to AI safety discussions around human disempowerment and epistemic learned helplessness in the face of complex systems.

Gallup's long-running annual survey measuring American public confidence in major institutions including government, media, military, and technology sectors. The data tracks longitudinal trends in institutional trust, providing empirical grounding for discussions about epistemic authority and societal credibility. Relevant to AI governance discussions around public trust in technology and regulatory bodies.

The American Psychological Association's annual Stress in America survey examines stress levels, sources, and coping mechanisms among U.S. adults. The 2023 edition likely covers ongoing stressors including economic pressures, geopolitical events, and information overload from media consumption. It provides psychological data relevant to understanding how people process uncertain and alarming information.

This Gallup poll reports that American trust in mass media has fallen to the second lowest level ever recorded, with only 32% of Americans saying they trust the media. The data reveals a deepening partisan divide, with Republicans showing historically low trust and independents declining as well. This trend has significant implications for public epistemics and the spread of misinformation.

The Stanford Graduate School of Education is a leading research institution focused on education policy, learning sciences, and equity in education. It conducts research relevant to how people learn, process information, and evaluate sources—topics with implications for AI literacy and epistemic health. The school's work on media literacy and civic online reasoning is particularly relevant to understanding how humans interact with AI-generated content.

Stanford's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) institute explores the intersection of AI companions and mental health, examining benefits, risks, and governance considerations of AI-powered emotional support tools. The resource reflects HAI's broader mission of responsible AI development that centers human well-being.

The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual global survey measuring public trust in institutions including government, media, business, and NGOs across dozens of countries. It tracks shifts in societal trust and credibility, revealing trends such as declining trust in media and experts. The data is widely cited in discussions about epistemic health, misinformation, and democratic governance.