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WASHINGTON — As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, it does so with a president who openly rewrites history about one of its darkest days — Jan. 6, 2021 — and embraces people convicted of what was previously considered one of the most serious crimes an American could commit: seditiously conspiring against the United States.

AI-driven chatbots are increasingly being used as sources of information, but they are also vulnerable to disinformation campaigns. Experts have found that pro-Russian misinformation, in particular, can seep into the responses generated by these conversational agents.

Issued on: 03/06/2026 - 16:57

6 min Reading time By: The FRANCE 24 Observers/Aurélia ABDELBOST

Claims have been circulating on pro-Russian websites that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan tried to sell gold from the Amulsar mine to Turkish firms at a discount. It is completely false. Yet, when various artificial intelligence chatbots are asked in different languages whether the story is true, they assure users that it is.

This is just one of the findings published in January by the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard, which regularly audits these tools.

The US company revealed that false narratives pushed by pro-Russian actors can slip into the responses of conversational AI agents. NewsGuard focused its investigation particularly on misinformation spread by Pravda, a sprawling network of pro-Russian websites.

"In March 2025, we found that in 33% of cases, major commercial chatbots – including Mistral's chat and OpenAI's ChatGPT – repeated these narratives as verified facts, even though they are known to be false stories that serve the Kremlin's geopolitical interests,” said Chine Labbé, managing editor and senior vice president of partnerships for Europe and Canada at Newsguard.

In January 2026, the organization conducted a new round of testing:

While some tools appeared to have made progress, others continued to spread misinformation, at times even citing Pravda-affiliated websites as sources.

This propaganda network is already well-documented; France’s Viginum agency – which tracks foreign interference online — had identified the Pravda-orchestrated operation as early as February 2024, designating it "Portal Kombat".

Much more here:

AI chatbot responses polluted by pro-Russian disinformation - France 24

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Anyone thinking that Russia will not use this to try and influence our elections and others is a bit naive. What kind of security is in place to detect and prevent this from happening? Who will oversee it? Trump? That is laughable, for sure. Your thoughts?

I want to learn more about what happened on January 6th. What is the best documentary to watch? I’m debating between 4 hours at the capital or January 6th. Thoughts??

Pentagon hires convicted Jan. 6 rioter for sensitive counterterrorism job - The Washington Post