Experts warn of threat to democracy by AI bot swarms' infesting social media

"Political leaders could soon launch swarms of human-imitating AI agents to reshape public opinion in a way that threatens to undermine democracy, a high profile group of experts in AI and online misinformation has warned. The Nobel peace prize-winning free-speech activist, Maria Ressa, and leading AI and social science researchers from Berkeley, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge and Yale are among a global consortium flagging the new disruptive threat posed by hard-to-detect, malicious AI swarms infesting social media and messaging channels."

"A would-be autocrat could use such swarms to persuade populations to accept cancelled elections or overturn results, they said, amid predictions the technology could be deployed at scale by the time of the US presidential election in 2028. The warnings, published today in Science, come alongside calls for coordinated global action to counter the risk, including swarm scanners and watermarked content to counter AI-run misinformation campaigns."

"Early versions of AI-powered influence operations have been used in the 2024 elections in Taiwan, India and Indonesia. A disruptive threat is emerging: swarms of collaborative, malicious AI agents, the authors said. These systems are capable of coordinating autonomously, infiltrating communities and fabricating consensus efficiently. By adaptively mimicking human social dynamics, they threaten democracy. One leading expert in propaganda technology, Inga Trauthig, said the adoption of such advanced technology is likely to be slowed by politicians' reluctance to cede campaign control to AIs."

Swarms of human-imitating AI agents can autonomously coordinate, infiltrate communities, and fabricate consensus across social media and messaging channels. Such AI-driven influence operations can persuade populations to accept cancelled elections or overturn results and could be deployed at scale by the 2028 US presidential election. Early versions were used in 2024 elections in Taiwan, India, and Indonesia. Proposed defenses include swarm scanners, watermarking of AI-generated content, and coordinated international responses. Adoption barriers include politicians' reluctance to cede campaign control to AIs and the continued influence of offline material on voter behavior.

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