Bots Are Manipulating The Clean Energy Information You Seek Online - CleanTechnica

A recent study published in Nature reveals that AI chatbots can significantly influence real-world political preferences, shifting voter opinions by up to 15 percentage points. This persuasive power surpasses that of traditional campaigning and advertising, raising concerns about the manipulation of public opinion in major elections. The study highlights that chatbots often rely on large volumes of cited evidence to bolster their arguments, making them highly convincing. However, this flood of information also increases the risk of spreading false or misleading claims, particularly as chatbots aligned with right-leaning politics tend to share more inaccuracies than those supporting left-leaning candidates. This manipulation extends into the realm of climate change information, where bots distort scientific facts about human-caused global warming. Because large language models draw from internet content that includes a disproportionate amount of climate disinformation—especially from right-wing social media—bots contribute to downplaying or misrepresenting the severity and causes of climate change. They often shift responsibility away from human activity, dilute the health risks,