Using Artificial Intelligence to Fight Digital Disinformation

Disinformation did not begin with the Russia-Ukraine war; it is in fact part of a hybrid warfare that has existed for a long time. Fake videos, texts and photos are usually put out deliberately to manipulate public opinion or shape perceptions. Teams working in this field, like civilian media organisations, analyse publications and situations in society and prepare so-called situational awareness reports.

Text data can now be evaluated better with widely used algorithms. Many armies use various technologies for text analysis. Analysing images, however, is more complex. Because text has long been a popular means of communication, more analytical capability has been built up for it. Yet images and videos are increasingly used to run influence campaigns. Images and videos appear especially often in ironic portrayals of current events.

The Bundeswehr’s “Image Aware” project, for example, can automatically record images and videos using artificial intelligence and support analysts. AI-supported projects of this kind help assess the situation and mood in the area of operations.

These programs capture publicly available data on social media and messaging traffic, and recognise and categorise the photos, videos and texts in it. The working principle is this: the analyst types the text they want to search for into the program, the program scans the large data pool for semantic patterns and presents the results to the analyst. Artificial intelligence reduces the complexity of the content that emerges. The content obtained is automatically translated into the local language. In this way a more meaningful result is obtained than from the raw source data.

In hybrid conflict situations, such analyses make the activities of operational units more effective. Image analysis results can also be compared with text analysis results, giving a more precise output. Software of this kind considerably reduces analysts’ workload and thus also saves a significant amount of personnel.

These AI-supported programs not only play a critical role in the fight against disinformation but have also become an important element in developing ever more precise and effective strategies. Technological advances can provide a strong defence against the misleading content created by malicious individuals and groups seeking to shape public perception. For this reason, continuously following technological progress and integrating it into existing systems is vital for sustaining an effective approach to fighting disinformation. Otherwise, failing to keep pace with developments in this field may make the fight against disinformation increasingly difficult. [1]