The rising challenges of AI-generated disinformation from an IT perspective include the potential for misuse of AI technology to create fake content at little cost, which can do a better job of fooling the public than human-created content. This can affect votes, rock the stock market, and erode trust in shared reality. AI experts, commentators, and politicians have predicted that generative AI will dramatically worsen the disinformation problem.

The Most Vulnerable Risks of AI-Generated Disinformation

1. Unreliable and false information

AI produces data based on the information already stored on the web. It doesn’t ensure the information is correct, nor does it verify or check the updated status. This is exceptionally vulnerable to rely on for business because of its massively produced inaccurate statistics and numbers.

2. Plagiarism and Legal Issues

AI algorithms can generate articles without proper attribution and research, illegally imitating information, potentially leading to legal issues related to publication or copyright infringement.

3. Security Concerns

AI systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks that compromise the data used. These systems can also be manipulated to produce malicious content like fake news articles or disinformation, posing significant security risks, compromising sensitive information, and creating cyber chaos.

4. Technological Power Concentration

The concentration of AI technologies in the hands of a few companies and countries poses significant supply-chain risks that could unfold over the coming decade. This concentration raises concerns about national security interests, production costs, and fair competition in the market. This can adversely affect a country’s GDP, law policy, and foreign relations.

Interrupting the Pillar of IT Business

Businesses have encountered more significant threats with the advent of AI tools like Chat GPT . And moreover, Generative AI has filled the market with misleading, false, and unrealistic information, which can heavily influence a company’s policies, investment strategies, and Return On Investment (ROI).

Some ways are:

1. Supply Chain Disruption

Disinformation about a supplier's reliability can lead to increased disruption in the supply chain, harming a company's competitiveness and giving an unfair advantage to competitors. This weakens the consumers' trust and lays foundational flaws in the company’s flow of actions.

2. Customer Retention

Disinformation can distort the integrity of a company's products or services, making it challenging to retain customers and attract new ones. This not only affects the company’s revenue but also brings a hold on the upcoming production in the pipeline.

3. Insider Threats

False information about a company's policies or practices, layoffs, financial stability, or other issues can lead to employee mistrust and insider threats, which pose significant risks to the business. Acquisition of good and potential talents, as well as the old employees, face avid uncertainty about the company’s bankruptcy and loss of jobs.

4. Algorithmic Bias

Generative AI models, automating and running on faulty, incomplete, or unrepresentative data, can produce systemically prejudiced results, leading to discrimination and legal risks.  Subsequently, this can lead to intellectual property issues, exposing businesses to legal action and heavy penalties.

Case Study

During the pandemic, false stories linking COVID-19 to 5G technology caused great trouble for businesses. Some people even burned down cell towers in different countries, which disrupted businesses relying on them. Social media aggravated the situation to worse consequences by spreading these lies and damaging a company's reputation. Social media here was filled with Generative AI disinformation and tricked a massive population into sharing personal information or clicking on harmful links in the name of upgrading free to 5G.

Precautionary Measures

• To stay safe, businesses must be careful online, watch out for fake news, and ensure employees know how to spot and report suspicious activity.
• Companies must also have strong security measures and encryptions to protect their data against cyber threats.
• Analysis of data and double checking them to retain trust and integrity among its existing customers and pave the way to acquire new potential customers.
• Investing in developing forensic tools capable of detecting and neutralizing AI disinformation is crucial. These tools must be constantly updated to keep up with evolving AI techniques.