Ukraine has launched an AI tool designed to combat Russian disinformation and expose pro-Russian wartime propaganda.
Volodymyr Borodiansky, Ukraine's former minister of culture, youth and sports, said the War of Words tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze thousands of hours of video content across Russian media.
The tool, which is updated daily, tracks everything that has been said on Russian TV and Telegram channels since 2012. It provides users with access to a vast archive that can be easily searched.
"Every second, Russia generates hundreds of units of propaganda," Borodiansky said. "Disinformation precedes all wars started by an aggressor country—in Ukraine, Syria, and Georgia—as evidenced by the analysis of information campaigns against each of these countries. Russia is applying the same means of propaganda against some EU and NATO member countries, who may become next on this list."
The launch of this unique AI tool comes after reports emerged regarding disinformation campaigns against the EU. Fake news narratives can be highly disruptive and can influence constituents' voting intentions during elections.
Users can easily mistake videos on social media feeds for reality when, in fact, they are AI-generated deep fakes, and political figures are commonly targeted.
A fake video circulated in 2022 that shows an edited Donald Trump claiming he had signed up for Russia's version of YouTube was shared by pro-Kremlin accounts online.
Furthermore, a video falsely depicting President Joe Biden calling a draft amid "an impending ground operation by Iran" was viewed millions of times following Iran's attempted missile strikes on Israel in April. EUvsDiSiNFO, a project from the European Union that analyzes and raises awareness of disinformation, found that pro-Kremlin outlets targeted European Parliament elections to smear leaders and spread fake news.
A EUvsDiSiNFO report stated: "Russian officials sought to exploit the elections to fuel political instability, urging leaders like Macron and Scholz to resign. Other pro-Kremlin outlets sought to dismiss the elections by framing them as a referendum on support for Ukraine, predicting an imminent collapse of the West."
The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) also recorded a surge in Russian disinformation ahead of the election.
Experts believe that Russian authorities are trying to manipulate and influence the public agenda by spreading disinformation on social media.
Peter Stano, EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy told Newsweek that Russia aims to "manipulate the public debate in the EU, sow distrust, and erode the credibility of democratic institutions and processes."
"One of Moscow's propaganda and information manipulation prime focuses is to undermine the public support for assistance to Ukraine. These campaigns focus, among others, on smearing and lying about President Zelensky and Ukrainian authorities."
"The Database of the EUvsDiSiNFO holds 17,000 concrete examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation/manipulation, around half of these examples (more than 8,500) target Ukraine directly or the EU's support to Ukraine."
"Russian authorities continue to conduct information manipulation and disinformation at a global scale using multiple platforms of the Russian state and Kremlin-controlled outlets, trying to flood and dominate the information space."
Elena Simperl, professor of computer science at King's College London, said: "While AI and generative AI, in particular, have been blamed for current disinformation campaigns by state and other actors all over the world, the technology is also used to debunk fake information, and the tool featured in the article is an example of what it can achieve."
Professor Simperl argued that society is still unclear on how much disinformation shapes opinions and behavior.
"We have seen examples of AI disinformation in recent elections, and debunking can work, for instance, by labeling content that is proven to be false, but it is not enough. It needs to be complemented by deep research into how information is spread and how disinformation social media accounts operate."
"The biggest danger from all this is that people stop believing or trusting anyone or any institution, and that leads to disengagement from democratic or collective decision-making."
The Russian government is investing huge sums every year to spread pro-Kremlin narratives domestically and internationally.
According to Debunk, a disinformation analysis center, the Kremlin has allocated $1.6 billion of funds to propaganda.
Borodiansky said: "To effectively respond to Russian aggression, we have created a tool that will help policymakers, diplomats, the media, and researchers identify how Russia threatens the peaceful existence of the world."
According to the website: "War of Words is the only tool that allows the audience to conveniently and quickly find out what is being said about their country on Russian political talk shows and in the news—in English and in the original language."
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
fairness meter
To Rate This Article
About the writer
Billal Rahman is a Live News reporter based in London, U.K. He specializes in foreign affairs and U.S. politics. He ... Read more
