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Pentagon Docs: US Wants to "Suppress Dissenting Arguments" Using AI Propaganda


The U.S. is interested in acquiring machine-learning technology to carry out AI-generated propaganda campaigns overseas.

A 2023 publication by the State Department-funded nonprofit Freedom House warned of “The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence,” predicting “AI-assisted disinformation campaigns will skyrocket as malicious actors develop additional ways to bypass safeguards and exploit open-source models.” Warning that “Generative AI draws authoritarian attention,” the Freedom House report cites potential use by China and Russia, but only mentions domestic use of the technology in a brief section about the presidential campaigns of Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump, as well as a deepfake video of Joe Biden manipulated to depict the former president making transphobic comments. “I would not be so concerned if some foreign soldiers are wrongly convinced that our special operation is going to happen Wednesday morning by helicopter from the east rather than Tuesday night by boat from the west,” said Lohn, now a senior fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. A troubling example was uncovered in 2024, when Reuters reported the Defense Department had operated a clandestine anti-vax social media campaign to undercut public confidence in the Chinese Covid vaccine, fearing its efficacy might draw Asian countries closer to a major geopolitical rival.

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