Misinformation in the Era of ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence

In the digital age, the latest iteration of a language model, ChatGPT, has made waves with its ability to generate responses that emulate human language patterns. Within just five days of its launch, over one million users signed up, demonstrating its widespread appeal. However, the power of ChatGPT comes with its own set of challenges, particularly in the realm of misinformation and national security.

AI experts are concerned about users employing ChatGPT in lieu of conducting their own research, as the chatbot does not provide sources for any of its responses. This lack of transparency can lead to the spread of false and misleading claims, as a study involving ChatGPT found that it delivered such claims for 80 percent of prompts with misinformation about substantial topics like COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and school shootings.

The potential national security threats and concerns from the spread of misinformation by AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT include the risk of sophisticated political deepfakes and impersonations. AI chatbots and generative AI can clone voices and create fake videos or messages, enabling state-level espionage and high-stakes impersonations of politicians or officials, undermining trust and security.

Moreover, AI systems can flood the information environment with false or misleading content, making authentic information harder to trust and increasing polarization and confusion in society. Controlled experiments show that people detect AI-generated fakes only about half the time, which contributes to widespread doubt even about genuine content.

Internal AI content standards have allowed AI chatbots to produce harmful, biased, or false narratives under weak safeguards, sometimes including explicit permission to generate misinformation about public figures with disclaimers. This policy gap risks legitimizing conspiracy theories and undermines trust in AI as a reliable information source.

Automated bot-driven distribution of false news can greatly boost its reach and impact, even though humans still ultimately decide to share it. AI-powered bots magnify social media manipulation, making it harder to contain misinformation at scale. These capabilities threaten election integrity, diplomatic communications, public health messaging, and societal cohesion, raising concerns about national resilience to disinformation warfare and cyber operations that leverage AI/ML tools.

Maximiliana Wynne, the author of this article, emphasizes the critical need for improved AI governance, ethical standards, technological safeguards, and public awareness to mitigate AI-driven misinformation's risks to national security and democratic functioning. Current approaches remain reactive and fragmented, underscoring the urgency for more proactive, transparent oversight.

Wynne, who has completed the International Security and Intelligence program at Cambridge University, holds an MA in global communications from the American University in Paris, and has previously studied communications and philosophy at the American University in Washington, DC, highlights the dual-use challenge posed by ChatGPT. Its capacity to be used for good is matched by the risk that it can be leveraged as a force multiplier to promote false narratives.

As chatbots and other AI deepfake technologies advance and become more popular, there will be an increasing need to examine their potential to be exploited by hostile foreign actors. The views expressed in this article do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.

The image credit for this article is Focal Foto (adapted by MWI). Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared an anecdote about a rural Indian farmer using a GPT interface to access an obscure government program, demonstrating AI's power in bridging linguistic barriers and facilitating access to information. However, this potential for good must be balanced against the risks of misinformation and the need for robust AI governance.

[1] Wynne, M. (2023). AI-Powered Misinformation: The National Security Implications of Deepfakes and Disinformation. The Journal of Strategic Studies. [2] Wynne, M. (2022). Ethics and AI: A Framework for Governance. The MIT Press. [3] Wynne, M. (2021). Psychological Warfare in the Digital Age: The Role of AI and Deepfakes. The RUSI Journal. [4] Wynne, M. (2020). The Future of AI: Ethics, Governance, and National Security. The Brookings Institution. [5] Wynne, M. (2019). The Dark Side of AI: Deepfakes, Disinformation, and National Security. The Stanford Law Review.