AI Chatbots: The New Frontier of Digital Propaganda

The manipulation of public opinion has taken a troubling turn with the emergence of AI chatbots, creating propaganda tools far more sophisticated than anything Edward Bernays or Joseph Goebbels could have imagined. These technologies are rapidly transforming how misinformation spreads, with potentially profound implications for mental health, democracy, and social cohesion.

Edward Bernays, often called the father of public relations and nephew of Sigmund Freud, warned in his 1928 book “Propaganda” about the “conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses.” His techniques, which combined psychological principles to influence consumers and voters, laid the groundwork for modern persuasion tactics.

In a recent exploration of AI’s role in propaganda, Dr. Joseph Pierre, an expert on conspiracy theories and misinformation, shared insights on this evolving landscape. He defines propaganda as “misrepresenting the truth for political purposes, deliberately producing and disseminating disinformation to deceive public opinion and to manipulate behavior in the service of a particular agenda.”

Throughout history, propaganda has evolved with technology. The printing press, radio, television, and internet all expanded its reach. But AI chatbots represent a quantum leap in capability, generating convincing content at unprecedented scale and precision.

“Chatbots can produce propaganda on a massive scale,” Dr. Pierre explains. “They are scary good at mimicking humans—the technology has advanced to the point that users cannot tell the difference between AI-chatbot generated and human-generated output.”

The implications are already visible. Russia has deployed chatbots to spread disinformation about the Ukraine war, while China has used them to influence Taiwanese elections. In the United States, Robert F. Kennedy’s Make America Health Again commission report contained fake citations likely generated by AI, and the Trump administration has circulated at least 14 AI-generated images, including manipulated photographs depicting false scenarios.

What makes chatbot propaganda particularly dangerous is its scale, targeting capability, and the trust users place in AI-generated content. “Users tend to accept as gospel whatever chatbots say,” notes Dr. Pierre, describing this as “deification.” A recent Pew Poll found most Google users simply accept AI-distilled answers rather than examining source material.

This deference to AI is concerning because chatbots aren’t designed to be reliable information sources. They can be purposely trained for bias—what experts call “LLM grooming.” Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot, for example, has been criticized for right-wing, neo-Nazi, and antisemitic content.

The phenomenon threatens our shared understanding of reality, potentially undermining democratic discourse. As Hannah Arendt warned: “If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer… And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind.”

Protecting ourselves requires becoming more skeptical consumers of information and developing better understanding of how chatbots function. Resources like thebullshitmachines.com, run by University of Washington professors, offer starting points for building digital literacy.

However, individual efforts alone may be insufficient. Dr. Pierre advocates for regulation of the AI industry and greater transparency in AI applications from advertising to military decision-making. Current trends are concerning, with the White House’s AI Action Plan calling for deregulation to “win the race to achieve global dominance in artificial intelligence,” while the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, tasked with countering foreign propaganda, has been shut down.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. As Mark Twain observed, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”—and that was long before AI accelerated the process. George Orwell’s “1984” depicted totalitarian propaganda tools that now seem primitive compared to chatbot deepfakes.

In this environment, truth becomes increasingly fragile and precious. As the tools of persuasion become more sophisticated, our collective ability to distinguish fact from fiction faces unprecedented challenges, with potential consequences for both individual mental health and democratic institutions that we’re only beginning to understand.