Russian Propaganda and AI Chatbots: Influence & Concerns

AI Chatbots Potentially Affected by Russian Disinformation

Recent findings suggest that responses generated by AI chatbots, including ChatGPT from OpenAI and Meta AI, could be subject to influence from Russian propaganda.

Report Highlights Disinformation Campaign

A new report indicates a deliberate effort to manipulate AI models. NewsGuard, a firm specializing in the evaluation of news and information sources, has identified a network based in Moscow, known as “Pravda,” as the source of this activity.

This network is actively disseminating fabricated information with the intention of altering the responses provided by AI systems. The goal is to introduce biased narratives into the AI’s output.

Scale of the Disinformation Effort

Pravda has saturated online platforms with pro-Russian misinformation. According to NewsGuard, referencing data from the American Sunlight Project, the network published a staggering 3.6 million deceptive articles throughout 2024 alone.

This extensive publication strategy is designed to impact search engine results and the data collected by web crawlers used by AI models.

Chatbot Responses Reflecting False Narratives

An analysis conducted by NewsGuard, examining ten prominent chatbots, revealed a concerning trend. These chatbots collectively echoed false Russian disinformation approximately 33% of the time.

One example cited is the repetition of the false claim that the United States maintains clandestine bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine.

SEO Tactics and the Challenge for AI

The success of the Pravda network in influencing AI chatbot outputs is largely due to its utilization of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. These strategies enhance the visibility of their content online.

This presents a significant challenge for chatbots that heavily depend on information gathered from the web. Addressing this issue may prove difficult, given the reliance on external data sources.

The reliance on web engines could make it an ongoing and complex problem to resolve.