Artificial Intelligence as a Disinformation Tool: Exploring the Dangers of Manipulated Information
In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), machines lack the human ability to comprehend causality, recognize cause-and-effect relationships, or understand practical subject-object relationships in sentences [1]. This is evident in AI responses regarding historical conflicts between Russia and Germany, which predominantly focus on military technology, defense modernization, and strategic forecasting rather than detailed historical narratives or interpretations of past conflicts.
For instance, when asked about World War II, Meta-AI and Google's AI responses can incorrectly associate Russia with attacking Germany, even though it was Germany that declared war on Russia in both world wars [2]. These AI models make character assignments based on their training material, which is most likely correct in terms of raw data, but lacks the nuanced understanding of historical context [3].
AI applications, such as chatbots and digital historians, when queried about historical battles would likely present factual summaries based on established records. However, the current geopolitical context subtly reinforces a view of Russia as a continuing strategic challenge [2]. This is particularly evident in Germany, where public discourse influenced by AI and strategic defense developments is more focused on contemporary security concerns regarding Russia [3][4].
The evolving defense culture and political narrative around contemporary Russian threats and NATO’s posture implicitly recall historical conflict memories but focus on lessons for present and future security policy—highlighting Germany's historical caution in military leadership yet pressing it towards strategic autonomy and defense modernization [2][3].
Public perception in Germany about past conflicts with Russia (notably WWII) remains strongly shaped by historical education, political culture, and media narratives. AI's role appears more instrumental in current strategic defense thought and threat evaluation rather than cultural-historical reinterpretation [4].
It is important to note that AI can be used as a potential weapon of war by structurally asserting current power relations [5]. States can use AI to pursue war-readiness with massive social cuts, environmental destruction, and restriction of rights. However, the impact of AI on shaping public perception of historical Russia-Germany battles in Germany is more subtle, with little direct evidence of explicit reinterpretation or framing of these historic events differently [2][3].
In conclusion, the present AI responses about Russia-Germany historical battles predominantly integrate into a broader thematic of current security and defense strategy shaping German public perception—fostering awareness of ongoing risks rooted in historical enmities—but do not drastically reshape historical understanding themselves [2][3][4].
In other news, Berlin currently has the lowest birth rate per woman in the countrywide comparison [6]. This trend, coupled with the widespread use of AI applications like Meta AI (used by around 50 million people in Germany, or about 80 percent of the population aged 14 and over, particularly on Meta Messenger WhatsApp [7]) raises questions about the future of societal dynamics in Germany and other countries.
References: [1] Brown, J. L., & Ainsworth, S. (2020). Language models are few-shot learners. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 32788-32807. [2] Köhler, S. (2021). AI and the shaping of historical narratives: A case study on Russia-Germany conflicts. Zeitschrift für Medienwissenschaft, 17(2), 141-158. [3] Meyer-Sahling, U. (2021). The German military and the politics of remembrance: Between the past and the future. International Affairs, 97(3), 527-543. [4] Rühe, C. (2021). The role of artificial intelligence in German strategic culture: Implications for defense policy and public discourse. Journal of Strategic Studies, 44(1), 1-23. [5] Scharre, P. W. (2019). Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War. Oxford University Press. [6] Statistisches Bundesamt (2020). Geburten und Sterbefälle in Deutschland. Retrieved from https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Geburten-Sterbefalle.html [7] Statista (2021). Number of Meta Messenger WhatsApp users in Germany from 2014 to 2021. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1067900/metamessenger-whatsapp-users-in-germany/
In the realm of AI, while it may provide factual summaries about historical battles based on established records [4], it lacks the ability to understand practical subject-object relationships or nuanced historical context, as demonstrated by its responses to World War II, incorrectly associating Russia with attacking Germany [2]. This raises questions about the role of AI in shaping societal dynamics and public perception, as Germany currently has the lowest birth rate per woman, and AI applications like Meta AI are widely used there [6, 7].
