U.S. Military Seeks AI Systems for Overseas Propaganda Operations

U.S. Special Operations Command is planning to harness artificial intelligence for international propaganda campaigns, according to documents reviewed by The Intercept. The military branch aims to develop machine learning systems that can “influence foreign target audiences” and “suppress dissenting arguments” without constant human oversight.

The documents, which outline SOCOM’s technology procurement plans for the next five to seven years, reveal the military’s interest in “agentic AI” and multi-large language model agent systems to significantly expand the scale of its influence operations.

“The information environment moves too fast for military [members] to adequately engage and influence an audience on the internet,” states the SOCOM document. “Having a program built to support our objectives can enable us to control narratives and influence audiences in real time.”

SOCOM spokesperson Dan Lessard confirmed to The Intercept that the command is pursuing “cutting-edge, AI-enabled capabilities” but emphasized they would operate under the Pentagon’s Responsible AI framework with human oversight. He stated that these operations “do not target the American public and are designed to support national security objectives.”

While U.S. law and Pentagon policy generally prohibit military propaganda campaigns from targeting domestic audiences, the borderless nature of the internet makes such distinctions increasingly difficult to enforce.

Tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini could revolutionize propaganda efforts by generating persuasive content in various tones without the time or expense of human writers. The SOCOM document specifically requests “automated systems to scrape the information environment, analyze the situation and respond with messages that are in line with MISO [Military Information Support Operations] objectives.”

The military also wants systems that can “access profiles, networks, and systems of individuals or groups that are attempting to counter or discredit our messages” and create “more targeted message[s] to influence that specific individual or group.”

The document further outlines plans to use AI to simulate how propaganda will be received, creating “comprehensive models of entire societies to enable MISO planners to use these models to experiment or test various multiple scenarios.”

This push comes amid growing concerns about similar technologies being deployed by foreign powers. A recent New York Times report highlighted China’s GoLaxy software, which allegedly can craft responses reinforcing Chinese government views while countering opposing arguments. However, the SOCOM document suggests the Pentagon is seeking capabilities that closely match these reported Chinese systems.

The military has previously engaged in questionable information operations. In 2024, Reuters revealed the Defense Department had operated a clandestine anti-vax social media campaign to undercut public confidence in Chinese Covid vaccines, describing them as “fake” despite World Health Organization approval as “safe and effective.”

William Marcellino, a RAND Corporation behavioral scientist, told The Intercept such systems are being built out of necessity, arguing that “regimes like those from China and Russia are engaged in AI-enabled, at-scale malign influence efforts.” He believes countering those campaigns likely requires AI-scale responses.

Critics warn against this approach. Heidy Khlaaf, chief scientist at the AI Now Institute and former OpenAI safety engineer, cautioned that “framing the use of generative and agentic AI as merely a mitigation to adversaries’ use is a misrepresentation,” noting that offensive and defensive uses are “two sides of the same coin.”

The effectiveness of AI-powered propaganda remains questionable. Emerson Brooking, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and former Pentagon cybersecurity adviser, pointed to previously failed U.S. online influence campaigns, including a network of Pentagon-operated social media accounts revealed in 2022 that spread anti-Russian and Iranian content but gained little traction.

“We know that these efforts have not worked very well and can be deeply embarrassing or counterproductive when revealed to the American public,” Brooking said. “AI tends to make these campaigns stupider, not more effective.”