LLMs grooming or data voids? LLM-powered chatbot references to Kremlin disinformation reflect information gaps, not manipulation

Some of today’s most popular large language model (LLM)-powered chatbots occasionally reference Kremlin-linked disinformation websites, but it might not be for the reasons many fear. While some recent studies have claimed that Russian actors are “grooming” LLMs by flooding the web with disinformation, our small-scale analysis finds little evidence for this. When such references appear, they can be due to “data voids,” gaps in credible information, rather than foreign interference.