I asked Microsoft’s CoPilot for its take on the future of expert, customer and peer-to-peer information sharing in an AI-dominated content environment, with its attendant risks and lack of human review.
“What is the optimal future for expert communities in a public sphere dominated by unmoderated AI output? List suggestions. Please also comment on the role of closed proprietary networks for peer-to-peer, customer and community knowledge sharing.”
It gave a full-blooded response warning of the risks of AI without human-in-the loop involvement and recommended proprietary platforms with adequate protection to maintain informational integrity.
Optimal Future for Expert Communities in an AI-Dominated Public Sphere
"In a public sphere awash with unmoderated AI output, expert communities must evolve to preserve depth, trustworthiness, and contextual insight. Below are strategic suggestions to secure their influence and impact.
Key Strategic Suggestions:
Establish Verified Expert Hubs
Build public platforms where contributors are credentialed and their expertise transparently tracked, ensuring audiences can distinguish vetted specialists from anonymous AI-generated content.
Curate and Inject High-Quality Training Data
Partner with AI developers to supply domain-specific, peer-reviewed datasets. Experts regularly audit model outputs and submit corrections to reinforce accuracy over time.
Champion Media and AI Literacy
Collaborate with educators to integrate critical evaluation of AI content into curricula. Create accessible toolkits empowering citizens to spot hallucinations, biases, or outdated information.
Innovate Hybrid Human-AI Workflows
Use AI for labor-intensive tasks (e.g. data gathering, initial drafting) while reserving interpretation, synthesis, and judgment calls for human experts. Position experts as orchestrators of AI-assisted discovery.
Reinforce Ethical Oversight and Governance
Convene interdisciplinary panels to define norms around AI use in sensitive fields. Advocate for transparent methodologies, conflict-of-interest disclosures, and accountability when AI outputs cause harm.
Foster Open Peer Review and Public Dialogue
Launch transparent review boards where experts annotate or challenge trending AI-generated claims. Host regular “Ask Me Anything” sessions to engage communities in real time, humanizing expertise.
Role of Closed Proprietary Networks for Knowledge Sharing
Closed proprietary networks—private platforms restricted to verified peers, customers, or community members—play a pivotal role in deepening and safeguarding expert knowledge.
High-Trust Learning Environments
Research shows that closed, densely interconnected networks excel at refining and transmitting specialized knowledge through repeated interactions and redundant channels. These settings are ideal for incremental innovation and quality control.
Safeguarding Competitive Advantage
Proprietary networks enable organizations to retain trade secrets, best practices, and specialized methodologies—acting as a “moat” that protects intellectual assets while still permitting selective collaboration.
Complementing Open Outreach
While public forums drive exploratory idea generation and broad engagement, closed networks provide the rigorous moderation and contextual depth needed for mission-critical or commercially sensitive discussions.
Customer-Centered Brand Development
Brands can harness closed communities to co-create with power users, accelerating product development and fostering loyalty by granting exclusive access to expert advice and insider insights.
This dual approach—public expert stewardship plus private, high-trust collaboration—ensures that expert communities not only survive but flourish, guiding society through the complexities of an AI-enriched information landscape."
It is what it says on the tin. Even the AI agrees.
About R. Scott Jones
R. Scott Jones, Esq. CIPP/US is a New York attorney with an increasing focus on privacy law issues. He is also lead partner of The Generative Company, a generative AI consulting firm, and co-founder of an AI Governance SaaS platform currently in development.