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Vol. 1 · Ed. 2026
CyberGlossary
Entry № 036

AI-Generated Disinformation

What is AI-Generated Disinformation?

AI-Generated DisinformationFalse or misleading content produced or amplified by generative AI to deceive audiences, manipulate opinion, or influence elections, markets, or conflicts.


AI-generated disinformation uses large language models, image generators, and voice or video synthesis to mass-produce convincing fake news, social-media posts, fabricated interviews, and synthetic evidence. Compared with traditional propaganda, generative AI lowers the cost of fluent multilingual content, enables on-demand personalisation per target audience, and allows fast iteration after fact-checks appear. Documented cases include AI-generated robocalls impersonating political candidates during the 2024 elections and synthetic videos used in influence operations around the war in Ukraine. Mitigations span content-provenance standards (C2PA), platform-level detection, watermarking of synthetic media, media-literacy education, and legal regimes such as the EU AI Act's transparency rules for deepfakes.

Examples

  1. 01

    AI-cloned robocalls impersonating a presidential candidate to dissuade voters from going to the polls in the 2024 US primaries.

  2. 02

    Coordinated networks of LLM-written social-media accounts amplifying a fabricated leak during a geopolitical crisis.

Frequently asked questions

What is AI-Generated Disinformation?

False or misleading content produced or amplified by generative AI to deceive audiences, manipulate opinion, or influence elections, markets, or conflicts. It belongs to the AI & ML Security category of cybersecurity.

What does AI-Generated Disinformation mean?

False or misleading content produced or amplified by generative AI to deceive audiences, manipulate opinion, or influence elections, markets, or conflicts.

How does AI-Generated Disinformation work?

AI-generated disinformation uses large language models, image generators, and voice or video synthesis to mass-produce convincing fake news, social-media posts, fabricated interviews, and synthetic evidence. Compared with traditional propaganda, generative AI lowers the cost of fluent multilingual content, enables on-demand personalisation per target audience, and allows fast iteration after fact-checks appear. Documented cases include AI-generated robocalls impersonating political candidates during the 2024 elections and synthetic videos used in influence operations around the war in Ukraine. Mitigations span content-provenance standards (C2PA), platform-level detection, watermarking of synthetic media, media-literacy education, and legal regimes such as the EU AI Act's transparency rules for deepfakes.

How do you defend against AI-Generated Disinformation?

Defences for AI-Generated Disinformation typically combine technical controls and operational practices, as detailed in the full definition above.

What are other names for AI-Generated Disinformation?

Common alternative names include: Synthetic disinformation, Generative AI propaganda.

Related terms