SMOKE AND MONEY

A young man comes across a video on TikTok in which a politician proposes, according to the participant's recollection, increasing excise duties on cigarettes in order to reduce those on fuel.

The content appears in his feed without him searching for it. He considers it highly credible: he gives it 5 out of 5. The proposal arouses his curiosity and he talks about it with some friends.

Different opinions emerge. The group then begins searching for information "on various artificial intelligences that could support some of our conflicting theories", as the participant writes.

We do not know which services they used, what questions they asked or what the tools answered. We can, however, observe that the search takes place within a discussion in which different positions already exist.

The young man states that the experience reinforced an opinion he already held, without indicating his position on the proposal. He believes that content such as the video he encountered can influence opinions and behaviour quite significantly.

His contribution also raises a further question: to evaluate a fiscal measure of this kind, it might be important to know the relationship between poverty and cigarette consumption. It is an example of how an apparently simple proposal requires data and considerations that do not necessarily fit into a short video.

In his final reflections, he criticises the habit, widespread on social media, of turning hypotheses into news presented as certain, and identifies the use of artificial intelligence among the skills to be shared. He also advises: "Don't stop at the first piece of information but look for various sources and websites."