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Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

theguardian.com

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Re: Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

#11

Post by roenxi »

foolinaround wrote: post #6

what makes a thinktank fake? no real authors? the about page seems rather standard to me - https://hanoverinstitute.com/hanover/about Every thinktank has always been established to push some viewpoint.

I have to say that is almost an excellent point - think tanks are ultimately propaganda outfits, so it is hard to have a "fake" think tank which is merely that.

But in this case the "fake" label means that the think tank itself doesn't actually exist. The article expands on the topic with "apparently does not exist as a legal entity in any jurisdiction, has no physical address, and carries no named staff and no bylines on any of its reports".

So if they hired some people to set up the HIPP and posted the same material it'd be a real think tank, but because the institute doesn't seem to exist at all it is a fake think tank. That isn't a comment on the writing produced.

Re: Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

#15

Post by aprilthird2021 »

foolinaround wrote: post #6

what makes a thinktank fake? no real authors? the about page seems rather standard to me - https://hanoverinstitute.com/hanover/about Every thinktank has always been established to push some viewpoint.

> A pro-Israel messaging website badged with the name of a thinktank that does not exist

> The site publishes in the name of the Hanover Institute for Public Policy, which apparently does not exist as a legal entity in any jurisdiction, has no physical address, and carries no named staff and no bylines on any of its reports.

In the article, if you'd like to read it, it's quite informative about how AI poisoning or AI SEO will go forward in the coming years, imo

Re: Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

#16

Post by aprilthird2021 »

roenxi wrote: post #11
foolinaround wrote: post #6

what makes a thinktank fake? no real authors? the about page seems rather standard to me - https://hanoverinstitute.com/hanover/about Every thinktank has always been established to push some viewpoint.

I have to say that is almost an excellent point - think tanks are ultimately propaganda outfits, so it is hard to have a "fake" think tank which is merely that. But in this case the "fake" label means that the think tank itself doesn't actually exist. The article expands on the topic with "apparently does not exist as a legal entity in any jurisdiction, has no physical address, and carries no named staff and no bylin…

I think it's a misunderstanding of what is alleged here. It's not alleged that the website produces propaganda. It's alleged that the website is fake, designed to seem like a legitimate source of information where info about it is just not available, in order to get AI to scoop up what it writes and treat it like a legitimate source of information vs how it would treat a real think tank which has a point of view that's documented and known in the world

A real think tank with real authors and disclosed funding sources could have something one can learn about it and its political leanings. A fake one can seem impartial due to little info existing about it (since it's fake).

Re: Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

#17

Post by neom »

Just in case you were as confused as I was... There appear to be two completely different fake think tanks, reported almost simultaneously.

- International Burke Institute (IBI), Claims to be Israeli think tank, Funded by Russia. This one is ChatGPT generated promotion + fake institutional credibility.

- Hanover Institute for Public Policy, Claims to be US think tank, Israeli government funded. This one is deliberately publishing material optimized to influence/cite in LLM answers.

Re: Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

#18

Post by pjc50 »

rpdillon wrote: post #7
foolinaround wrote: post #6

what makes a thinktank fake? no real authors? the about page seems rather standard to me - https://hanoverinstitute.com/hanover/about Every thinktank has always been established to push some viewpoint.

The main non-standard thing on that page is the attribution. > This material is distributed by Piro, Inc. on behalf of Havas Media Germany GmbH on behalf of the Israel Government Advertising Agency (LaPam). Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC

Finally a win for the German "impressum" requirement!
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