They’ll Use AI to Erode Reality. We Must Use It to Anchor Shared Truth.
AI vs. Autocracy: Seven Lessons in the New Battle for Democracy
By Trygve Olson
Authoritarian regimes don’t just lie.
They destroy the idea that truth can be known at all — until people stop trusting what they see, hear, or even feel.
They don’t need you to believe the regime.
They just need you to stop believing anyone else.
That’s the playbook — and now AI is scaling it.
What the Autocrats Will Do
In the past, disinformation was crafted by hand.
Now, with LLMs, deepfakes, synthetic media, and botnets powered by generative tools, regimes don’t need to persuade — they only need to pollute.
According to the 2025 Bad Bot Report from Thales:
49.6% of all internet traffic this year was from bots — the highest ever recorded.
And the most sophisticated class — "Advanced Persistent Bots" — now impersonate humans, bypass CAPTCHAs, scrape content, and flood comment sections undetected.
These bots aren’t spamming promotions.
They’re manufacturing reality — or more precisely, shredding it:
AI-generated articles appearing under fake bylines
Deepfaked videos of political figures saying inflammatory things
Bot armies pushing contradictory narratives to overwhelm news cycles
Synthetic influencers blending real content with state-crafted lies
The result isn’t just confusion.
It’s submission — people stop trying to know what’s real because it’s too exhausting.
As I wrote in The Battle for Democracy:
“The regime doesn’t need belief to rule. It only needs exhaustion.”
What Democracy Must Do
Democracy can’t survive a collapse in shared reality.
So we must rebuild it — with intention.
That means:
Pre-bunking disinformation, especially tactics that will be AI-driven
Using AI tools to verify media integrity and flag synthetic content
Re-establishing human credibility anchors — local reporters, educators, civic leaders who still carry trust
Slowing the firehose — reducing the reach of bot-driven narratives before they go viral
Reality is now a frontline.
We don’t defend it with nostalgia.
We defend it with infrastructure, speed, and clarity.
Three Things You Can Do Today
1. Make truth checkable.
Don’t just debunk. Explain how you know what’s true. Teach people to check, not just react.
2. Support humans over volume.
Boost real reporting. Quote local leaders. Share verified sources. Let people know whom they can still trust.
3. Flag the tactic, not just the lie.
When you see AI-generated chaos, name it. Say, “This is designed to confuse you.” That gives people agency back.
Bottom Line
Autocrats will use AI to flood the zone with fiction — until people give up on truth altogether.
We must anchor reality with credibility, clarity, and community.
Because when you lose the thread of what’s real, you lose everything else that depends on it.
And democracy is first in line.
Next Up:
Lesson 5 — They’ll Use AI to Undermine Elections. We Must Use It to Defend Them.
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Trygve, I have been reading the lessons concerning AI. I am not sure I know how to detect AI even though you have written about it clearly. I do know that when I see patterns change, I am suspicious. Check the source as best I can, etc. The rule of thumb in social/historical research was to use known the sources, aka, experts. As one profession said: Know the experts. You aren’t the expert. I don’t want your opinion. (Ha!) So—footnote. Also, newspapers articles are secondary, need as many primary sources as possible. So I get it. Just not too sure about the digital world. Trying hard to be careful. In fact, and no offense, when you started with the AI lessons. I wasn’t sure if it was you. I saw a pattern change. So~~~??
It sounds so much like disinformation, the idea of not just a lie but 4 or 5 lies, until you give up on truth and move on.