Artificial intelligence sabotaging the public image of EU institutions

Abstract

The objective is to understand consequences of disinformation about European Union institutions caused by artificial intelligence, which shows how AI can build a negative image of EU institutions and lead to the citizens' loss of trust in them, and how citizens can be manipulated through the use of AI, which leads to the necessity of them having a critical approach to online content. The paper uses prior work to explain how we use AI as a tool bringing benefits and vulnerabilities, based on integrating technology in governance, education, project management, which is a necessity since we live in a smart city. The approach relies on case studies, such as the European Parliament elections from 2024, when EU institutions gave warnings about AI-generated content such as deep-fakes, manipulated political videos, use of AI-created audio content, and about disinformation campaigns on online social media. The French far-right political networks used AI-generated visual content to lead to anti-migrant attitudes, since it showed them behaving violently and threatening the social order, making EU citizens no longer trust EU institutions and experiencing a sense of lack of security. Results show that the public relies on abductive logic: they notice something unusual in the AI-fabricated content and they build hypotheses under the influence of anti-EU political orientations. In turn, this shows the anxieties and crises the EU institutions and EU itself are confronted with. The paper has implications for EU staff, researchers, as well as for citizens, regarding improving citizens' AI literacy and knowledge about where to look for reliable information, as well as on their own judgement. The value of the paper lies in its analysis of the case studies from ideological and psychological perspectives, in order to raise awareness on ways in which we are persuaded about a fake state of affairs.