Beyond Spam Bots - The Rise of AI-Powered Disinformation Machines and the Imperative for Strategic Response
Beyond Spam Bots - The Rise of AI-Powered Disinformation Machines and the Imperative for Strategic Response

Author(s): Gundars Bergmanis-Korats, Joshua Chia Tee Hiang
Contributor(s): Merle Anne Read (Editor)
Subject(s): Media studies, Communication studies, Security and defense, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Hybrid Warfare
Published by: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Disinformation; Information Influence Operations; Large Language Models (LLMs); Strategic Communications; Cognitive Warfare;
Summary/Abstract: The threat landscape of online disinformation has undergone a fundamental transformation. Bot amplification in social media is no longer limited to primitive spam operations. Adversaries now deploy complex AI-driven systems capable of advanced contextual processing, dynamic persona adoption, behavioural mimicry, and seamless integration into authentic conversations. This shift represents a strategic inflection point for Western defence and security practitioners. Red-teaming assessments of eight leading large language models (LLMs) reveal these systems are buildable today using commercially available technology. Vulnerability scores ranged from 5.75% to 80%, with ‘abliterated’ open-source models – stripped of safety controls – presenting acute weaponisation risks, as well as opportunities for building offensive communication capabilities. Current regulatory frameworks and AI safeguards are demonstrably insufficient to prevent misuse at scale. These capabilities enable the industrial-scale fabrication of false consensus, attacking the mechanisms through which democratic societies determine truth. For strategic communication practitioners, this demands coordinated response across platform governance, policy frameworks, and societal resilience, with urgency commensurate to the threat.

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