How can we still trust the media in a time of unethical use of AI and social media propaganda? What is the best way to guard against disinformation? Why should you learn, now more than ever, to think clearly and communicate well?

In this podcast episode, Joe Sanok discusses the “Invisible Influence” and how AI, lies, and power shape what you believe with Professor Renée DiResta. 

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Meet Professor Renée DiResta

Renée DiResta is an Associate Research Professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, specializing in the study of online disinformation, propaganda, and the manipulation of digital platforms. Previously, she served as the Technical Research Manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, where she led investigations into state-sponsored influence operations, including those by the Russian Internet Research Agency and the GRU during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Renée has advised U.S. Congress, the State Department, and various civil society organizations on issues related to online manipulation and policy.

She is the author of Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality and has contributed to publications such as The Atlantic, Wired, and Foreign Affairs. Renée is also a 2019 Truman National Security Fellow, a 2018 Mozilla Fellow, and a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar.

Visit Renée DiResta’s website and connect on LinkedIn.

In This Podcast



* Getting information online 

* Unethical and ethical AI

* Mis-information 

* Professor DiResta’s advice to private practitioners 



Getting information online 

The thing that’s interesting with learned language models is that they’re very confidently wrong … The person who asks the machine to do [something] is probably used to Googling and having Google return reliable results, because your expectation when you use Google is that it’s going to give you good information … When you move from search engines to answer engines … people who don’t recognize what it’s doing don’t realize that … the answer engine [is biased]. (Renée DiResta)

Regarding content that is related to hot topics, such as wars, genocides, and politics, people often forget that sometimes this content can be given the “wrong way”. 

The content has the potential to be biased because it can be designed to be, especially when LLMs can often be confidently wrong, as Professor DiResta puts it.  Sometimes, the information that LLMs draw on to formulate their answers is not entirel...