Case study on effective AI-supported scams.
--Micro-targeting based on wealth and social-identity
--Tailor made provocative content
--Mimicking culture to feel more approachable to victims
@wired.com
This Scammer Used an AI-Generated MAGA Girl to Grift ‘Super Dumb’ Men
archive.ph/OhN3S
This, IMO, relates to an ongoing conflated discussion about whether algorithmic promotion/demotion is inherent censorship.
Are AI Model Weights Protected Speech Under the First Amendment?
"We argue that model weights should not receive First Amendment protection because they are predominantly functional machine-readable parameters...better understood as conduct, not speech."
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Particularly salient is @panievsky.bsky.social’s discussion of how chasing access to power can be long-term harmful.
youtu.be/7UItRnWIV-U?...
Lots of discussion today about the White House Correspondents Dinner reminds me of this webinar on Journalism & Democratic Backsliding with @jayrosen.bsky.social, @panievsky.bsky.social, & @sambrook.eurosky.social.
youtu.be/MrAnVd35bcE?...
Mine. I used it in an exec ed class last week.
Hypothesis:
The need for societal intervention and reinvention is correlated to the lack of distance between satire and reality.
cc: @bencollins.bsky.social
theonion.info
Properly funding academic research and independent investigative journalism could offer much higher return on investment than $b military hardware. "From data I have observed, some disinformation campaigns appear to be funded in the billions of U.S. dollars, backed by some of the wealthiest people on Earth and some government treasuries. In contrast, our work, which I consider to be among the foundational pillars to preserving global democracy and countering systemic corruption, is relatively funded by governments like it is a grade school bake sale. This must be fixed with urgency. Academics and independent journalists need significant funding to better understand, expose, and inform policy about narrative-led corruption. I hope the discussions in our meetings will help articulate the gravity of the risks we face and the commitment to and quality of work from this community. I hope that this, in turn, can inspire governments and others who value evidence-based policy, collaborative government, and democracy to properly fund this work, while they still have the ability to do so. As some experts will discuss in these meetings, information corruption and cognitive manipulation fuel existential threats. Our work should be considered important enough to fund as if it were part of fundamental societal or sovereign defence. Our work could potentially offer greater societal defence in this moment than some billion-dollar military hardware. In fact, some of our research could inform policy or actions that could reduce the need to deploy the military hardware we have already spent billions on. So, I think there is a high return on investment to properly fund our work."
"...disinformation campaigns appear to be funded in the billions of U.S. dollars.
...In contrast, our work...is relatively funded by governments like it is a grade school bake sale.
This must be fixed with urgency."
youtu.be/fEv6n--Em6Q
Mario Scharfbillig (@scharfbillig.bsky.social), Science for Policy Analyst, European Commission, discusses the business-financial and geopolitical incentives behind the "Fantasy Industrial Complex."
Cambridge Disinformation Summit
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFME...
Most of the talks from the 2026 Cambridge Disinformation Summit are now available on the Summit’s YouTube channel.
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
NEW: The Onion says it has struck a deal to take over Infowars. That deal still must be approved by a judge. This news was first reported by @pablo.show. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
"Disinformation campaigns—which I view as preparatory speech acts—groom vulnerable people for...corruption acts like sextortion..., crypto rug pulls, catfishing, sexual slavery, terroristic violence, or expansionist warfare.
Disinformation sets the stage for corruption."
youtu.be/3fye7X6TtVw
Consistent with comments from speakers at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit who represented the array of political parties—Green, Lib Dems, Labour, Conservative, Democrat, and Republican.
The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia, on the risks to democracy of concentrated media ownership.
Cambridge Disinformation Summit.
youtu.be/BtXUcFBaErc
One discussion point was the stickiness of the follower base. Gov Cox from Utah mentioned the notion of portability across platforms, which I think @robin.berjon.com also mentioned as a needed feature in new infrastructure.
"Disinformation campaigns—which I view as preparatory speech acts—groom vulnerable people for...corruption acts like sextortion..., crypto rug pulls, catfishing, sexual slavery, terroristic violence, or expansionist warfare.
Disinformation sets the stage for corruption."
youtu.be/3fye7X6TtVw
The most basic fundamentals of cognitive processing.
Humans observe events, narrate stories to explain them, and assign emotions to those stories.
This helps illustrate how influencers can emotionally manipulate outcomes with biased or false narratives around events.
Consistent with comments from speakers at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit who represented the array of political parties—Green, Lib Dems, Labour, Conservative, Democrat, and Republican.
It was a pleasure to present our new report at this great conference.
Read more here joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and...
Mario Scharfbillig (@scharfbillig.bsky.social), Science for Policy Analyst, European Commission, discusses the business-financial and geopolitical incentives behind the "Fantasy Industrial Complex."
Cambridge Disinformation Summit
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFME...
The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia, on the risks to democracy of concentrated media ownership.
Cambridge Disinformation Summit.
youtu.be/BtXUcFBaErc
Most of the talks from the 2026 Cambridge Disinformation Summit are now available on the Summit’s YouTube channel.
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The most basic fundamentals of cognitive processing.
Humans observe events, narrate stories to explain them, and assign emotions to those stories.
This helps illustrate how influencers can emotionally manipulate outcomes with biased or false narratives around events.
Diane Benscoter on how to support someone trapped by psychological manipulation.
Cambridge Disinformation Summit webinar series.
youtu.be/OottZUfQbns?...
@robin.berjon.com, Principal, Supramundane Agency, discusses digital sovereignty and infrastructure needed to support sovereignty.
Cambridge Disinformation Summit
youtu.be/QcDxfAyy07U
Keynote speech from @london.gov.uk Sir Sadiq Khan.
Cambridge Disinformation Summit.
"I've become convinced that disinformation is one of, if not the, defining challenges of our time."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwW...
University of Virginia's Maximilian Brichta discussed disinformation and deception in decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgjW...
UNC Chapel Hill Professor Meredith Clark:
"You can't break up the existence and the background and the history [of the Black community on Twitter].
But you can control the means of information production.
So you buy the platform."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8RT...
