Generative propaganda: Evidence of AI’s impact from a state-backed disinformation campaign

Can AI bolster state-backed propaganda campaigns, in practice? Growing use of AI and large language models has drawn attention to the potential for accompanying tools to be used by malevolent actors. Though recent laboratory and experimental evidence has substantiated these concerns in principle, the usefulness of AI tools in the production of propaganda campaigns has remained difficult to ascertain. Drawing on the adoption of generative-AI techniques by a state-affiliated propaganda site with ties to Russia, we test whether AI adoption enabled the website to amplify and enhance its production of disinformation. First, we find that the use of generative-AI tools facilitated the outlet's generation of larger quantities of disinformation. Second, we find that use of generative-AI coincided with shifts in the volume and breadth of published content. Finally, drawing on a survey experiment comparing perceptions of articles produced prior to and following the adoption of AI tools, we show that the AI-assisted articles maintained their persuasiveness in the postadoption period. Our results illustrate how generative-AI tools have already begun to alter the size and scope of state-backed propaganda campaigns.