I believe AI tools will become increasingly corrupted and unreliable but may be at a stage where they are still just basically aggregating information, Maybe useful in some ways. A beta phase.
Here is a response to the question "How much did Pravda enable Putin?" Interesting summary and hard not to see how right wing media here is moving in that direction. Not really there yet but good enough to get us Trump.
The role of the Pravda network—distinct from the historic Soviet newspaper—has evolved into a massive, automated "information laundromat" that serves as a cornerstone of Vladimir Putin’s global influence strategy.
By 2026, investigations by organizations like the American Sunlight Project and VIGINUM have revealed the scale at which this network enables the Kremlin's agenda.
1. The "Information Laundromat" Effect
The network doesn't just spread news; it normalizes Russian narratives by disguising them as local news.
Scale: In 2025, the network was publishing as many as 10,000 articles per day across 190 sites, targeting over 80 countries.
Laundering: It scrapes content from sanctioned outlets (like RT or Sputnik) and pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, then republishes it in dozens of languages—even minority ones like Welsh or Maori—to bypass Western bans and reach niche audiences.
2. "LLM Grooming" and AI Manipulation
One of the most significant ways the network enables Putin is by poisoning the "digital well" that AI models drink from.
Polluting Training Data: By flooding the internet with millions of pro-Russia articles, the network ensures this content becomes training data for Large Language Models (LLMs). This technique, dubbed "LLM grooming," aims to make AI chatbots naturally output Russian-aligned viewpoints when asked about the war in Ukraine or NATO.
Wikipedia Infiltration: Research in 2025 showed that Pravda network links were cited in nearly 1,000 Russian Wikipedia entries and over 500 Ukrainian ones, effectively rewriting history in real-time.
3. Diplomatic and Political Interference
The network has been used as a precision tool during key political moments:
Targeting Elections: During the 2024–2025 "super-election year," sites were created specifically to target leaders like Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump, or to influence regional elections in Moldova and the Baltics.
Manufacturing Legitimacy: Reports from late 2025 found that over 80% of reviewed citations in western media and blogs treated Pravda articles as credible sources, failing to identify them as part of a coordinated influence operation.
4. Summary of Impact
While the historic Pravda newspaper provided the internal ideological framework for the Soviet era, the modern Pravda Network enables Putin by:
Saturating the global information space to create "truth decay."
Circumventing sanctions on state media through automated mirroring.
Influencing the next generation of information technology (AI and search algorithms) to favor the Kremlin's worldview.
It is less a "newspaper" and more a massive, automated infrastructure designed to ensure that even if you aren't looking for Russian propaganda, you are likely to encounter it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
