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Research can help to tackle AI-generated disinformation

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools have made it easy to create realistic disinformation that is hard to detect by humans and may undermine public trust. Some approaches used for assessing the reliability of online information may no longer work in the AI age. We offer suggestions for how research can help to tackle the threats of AI-generated disinformation.

In March 2023, images of former president Donald Trump ostensibly getting arrested circulated on social media. Former president Trump, however, did not get arrested in March. The images were fabricated using generative AI technology. Although the phenomenon of fabricated or altered content is not new, recent advances in generative AI technology have made it easy to produce fabricated content that is increasingly realistic, which makes it harder for people to distinguish what is real.

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Fig. 1: Role of behavioural science in the era of AI-generated disinformation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LMU Munich School of Management, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany

    Stefan Feuerriegel

  2. Munich Center for Machine Learning (MCML), Munich, Germany

    Stefan Feuerriegel

  3. Stanford Internet Observatory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Renée DiResta

  4. Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Josh A. Goldstein

  5. College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Srijan Kumar

  6. Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Philipp Lorenz-Spreen

  7. Department of Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Michael Tomz

  8. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Michael Tomz

  9. Department of Business and Economics, JLU Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Nicolas Pröllochs

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Stefan Feuerriegel.

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Nature Human Behaviour thanks Jennifer Stromer-Galley and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Feuerriegel, S., DiResta, R., Goldstein, J.A. et al. Research can help to tackle AI-generated disinformation.
Nat Hum Behav (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01726-2

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  • Published: 20 November 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01726-2

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