AI AND INFORMATION WARS: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE PRODUCTION OF PROPAGANDA AND DISINFORMATION

Abstract

Because of factors such as creating personalized disinformation and emotional manipulation, artificial intelligence is becoming a powerful tool in the construction of the information environment. Political narratives are also targeted and changed. Automated bots, generative models, deepfakes, and other AI technologies modify how the public views information and evoke feelings - whether positive or negative. Studies on the topic become more significant given the current international relations climate, as information control is a form of power on par with military and economic resources. The illegal dissemination of deepfake videos during the 2022 war in Ukraine, the 2016 U.S. elections, and the COVID-19 “infodemic” illustrate the urgency of AI technologies in information and the persuasive destabilization of democracy. AI technologies accelerate information sprawl and disinformation’s militarization.

The information war as a component of hybrid tactics in international relations is not a new phenomenon. The scale of propaganda and disinformation dissemination, however, is unprecedented due to the rapid advancement of AI technologies.

The use of information as a weapon of various states and non-state actors has been ongoing for centuries, but the emergence and development of artificial intelligence has created new opportunities and threats. While earlier information wars relied largely on classical media and traditional channels of political propaganda, today digital platforms, social media, and automated systems occupy the central role of mass communication. This paper discusses precisely the mechanisms through which AI systems create and disseminate false narratives, influence elections, and change the dynamics of democratic systems. Although artificial intelligence is also being used to combat disinformation, the technology that currently exists is not yet capable of maximizing its effectiveness. This is precisely why analyzing those mechanisms and approaches that are using the capabilities of AI in information wars and those that are trying to utilize AI itself to combat the spread of propaganda and disinformation is so important.