University of Kwazulu-Natal

Towards An Ai Based Counter Disinformation Framework Rand

Bonisiwe Shabane
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towards an ai based counter disinformation framework rand

In this blog post, Linda Slapakova discusses the various roles that AI plays in counter-disinformation efforts, the prevailing shortfalls of AI-based counter-disinformation tools and the technical, governance and regulatory barriers to their uptake, and... Disinformation has become a defining feature of the COVID-19 crisis. With social media bots (i.e. automated agents engaging on social networks) nearly twice as active during COVID-19 as opposed to past crises and national elections, the public and private sectors have struggled to address the rapid spreading of false... This has highlighted the need for effective, innovative tools to detect and strengthen institutional and societal resilience against disinformation. The leveraging of Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents one avenue for the development and use of such tools.

To provide a holistic assessment of the opportunities of an AI-based counter-disinformation framework, this blog firstly discusses the various roles that AI plays in counter-disinformation efforts. Next, it discusses the prevailing shortfalls of AI-based counter-disinformation tools and the technical, governance and regulatory barriers to their uptake, and how these could be addressed to foster the uptake of AI-based solutions for... Emerging technologies, including AI, are often described as a double-edged sword with relation to information threats. On the one hand, emerging technologies can enable more sophisticated online information threats and often lower the barriers to entry for malign actors. On the other hand, they can provide significant opportunities for countering such threats. This has been no less true in the case of AI and disinformation.

Though the majority of malign information on social media is spread by relatively simple bot technology, existing evidence suggests that AI is being leveraged for more sophisticated online manipulation techniques. The extent of the use of AI in this context is difficult to measure, but many information security experts believe that AI is already being leveraged by malign actors, for example to better determine... ‘what to attack, who to attack, [and] when to attack’). This enables more targeted attacks and thus more effective information threats, including disinformation campaigns. Recent advances in AI techniques such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) have also given rise to concerns that AI may be used to create more authentic synthetic text (e.g. fake social media posts, articles and documents).

Moreover, Deepfakes (i.e. the leveraging of AI to create highly authentic and realistic manipulated audio-visual material) represent a prominent example of image-based AI-enabled information threat. Slapakova, L. (2021) Towards an AI-Based Counter-Disinformation Framework. https://www.rand.org/blog/2021/03/towards-an-ai-based-counter-disinformation-framework.html has been cited by the following article:

TITLE: Towards Immunizing Infodemic: Comprehensive Study on Assessing the Role of Artificial Intelligence and COVID-19 Pandemic AUTHORS: Maryam Roshanaei, Greggory Sywulak KEYWORDS: Artificial Intelligence, Infodemic, Disinformation, COVID-19 Pandemic Our research integrity and auditing teams lead the rigorous process that protects the quality of the scientific record We've previously written about the opportunities of #disinformation detection enabled by #artificialintelligence. In this piece for the The Hague Journal of Diplomacy I unpack some of the challenges facing AI-based counter-disinformation and how they could be addressed.

For all interested in this area, our new research on human rights in the digital age will be published soon. After that, we are open for business for a new disinformation project:) Edited by: Ludmilla Huntsman, Cognitive Security Alliance, United States Reviewed by: J. D. Opdyke, DataMineit, LLC, United States

Hugh Lawson-Tancred, Birkbeck University of London, United Kingdom *Correspondence: Alexander Romanishyn, a.romanishyn@ise-group.org Received 2025 Jan 31; Accepted 2025 Jun 30; Collection date 2025. Walter Frick is the founder of Nonrival, a newsletter that lets readers make predictions about tech, business, and the economy. He is a contributing editor (former senior editor) at Harvard Business Review, former executive editor at Quartz and has written for publications including The Atlantic, the BBC, and MIT Technology Review.

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