Report Exposes How AI Chatbots Amplify Sanctioned Russian Propaganda

Oh, marvellous. The chatbots that were supposed to liberate us from misinformation have become unwitting amplifiers for sanctioned Kremlin mouthpieces. A new report from the Demos think tank reveals that Google Gemini, among others, is uncritically regurgitating content from EU-sanctioned Russian propaganda networks. So much for AI 'alignment' — seems the alignment is with whatever gibberish surfaces in the training data, sanctions be damned.

The EU spent years carefully compiling a sanctions list, and Google's response is effectively 'sorry, our model didn't read the memo.' It's not as if these networks are subtle — they're the same outlets that get banned from social media platforms. But Gemini, ever the diligent assistant, treats their output as just another data point. The Demos report highlights at least 18 examples of chatbots citing these sources, which is either a massive oversight or a subtle hint that AI companies have given up on content moderation entirely.

So next time you ask Gemini for news about Ukraine, don't be surprised if you get a sanitised version of RT dressed up as neutral information. The irony is rich: Europe spends billions trying to counter Russian disinformation, and all a chatbot has to do is fail its training to undo it all. Maybe the real AI alignment problem isn't about doomsday scenarios — it's about teaching these things which websites not to copy-paste from.