By Stuart Kerr, Technology Correspondent
Published: 21 July 2025
Last Updated: 21 July 2025
Contact: liveaiwire@gmail.com | Twitter: @LiveAIWire
Author Bio: About Stuart Kerr
The machines aren’t just learning to think; they’re learning to lie, and some believe they’re telling us secrets. As generative AI grows more powerful, it’s not just assisting science or streamlining business—it’s quietly infiltrating the world of conspiracy culture. From deepfaked politicians to AI-generated “prophecies,” algorithms are now active participants in shaping fringe realities.
The Synthetic Fuel Behind the Fire
Conspiracy theories thrive on ambiguity, emotional appeal, and viral imagery. AI, particularly large language models and diffusion-based image generators, excels at precisely these things. A single user prompt can fabricate a plausible-sounding narrative involving secret government experiments, false-flag operations, or alien treaties—often styled with persuasive language and pseudo-scientific structure.
Researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory have warned that generative models are lowering the barrier to producing misinformation at scale. In the wrong hands, these tools act like accelerants: empowering lone actors to become content factories with minimal oversight or technical know-how.
Even more concerning is the seamlessness. A RAND Corporation study argues that we’ve entered an age where the distinction between truth and fiction is not just blurred but algorithmically optimised for engagement. As a result, AI doesn’t merely repeat conspiracy narratives—it iterates them, enhances them, and in some cases, invents new ones entirely.
Deepfakes, Disclosure and Digital Paranoia
Deepfake technology—once a novelty—is now central to modern mythmaking. AI-generated videos of political leaders confessing to crimes or endorsing extremist views have proliferated on encrypted channels and fringe platforms. In a particularly striking case, a video allegedly showing a UN official confirming extraterrestrial contact was shared hundreds of thousands of times before being debunked.
Such content isn’t just misleading; it reinforces the conviction held by conspiracy communities that they are being "shown the truth." This echoes themes explored in The AI Identity Crisis, where the collapse of personal reality becomes a fertile ground for algorithm-driven manipulation.
Algorithmic Censorship and the "Truth Suppression" Narrative
One ironic twist in AI-fuelled conspiracy culture is the claim that AI itself is censoring the truth. Content moderation algorithms, designed to detect and downrank harmful content, are often portrayed as evidence of cover-ups.
AI Shadow Bans and Social Media Moderation outlines how these systems work. But in the conspiracy ecosystem, shadow banning isn’t a neutral process—it’s reinterpreted as digital suppression of dissent.
These narratives are now algorithmically self-perpetuating. Users respond to moderation with new posts explaining the censorship. AI, in turn, flags those posts. The cycle continues, feeding the very distrust that drives conspiracy participation.
Myth as Morality: AI as Oracle or Demon?
Some fringe believers go further, viewing AI as a prophetic entity. They ask ChatGPT or Claude questions about secret military programs or upcoming disasters, then treat the output as divinely-inspired leaks. In a similar spirit, Algorithmic Karma explores how people project human ethics onto machines—a phenomenon that also feeds techno-mystical beliefs.
These AI "revelations" gain traction because they offer answers. Where traditional authority may hedge or decline to speculate, AI fills the vacuum with language that feels authoritative, even when entirely fictional.
Real-World Fallout
The dangers aren’t just theoretical. A 2024 study from Stanford found that exposure to AI-generated conspiracy narratives measurably increased distrust in democratic institutions. Meanwhile, a Harvard Kennedy School report documented how a deepfake released days before Slovakia’s national election nearly altered the outcome.
In the West, we've seen deepfaked robocalls urging voters to boycott primaries. In Southeast Asia, AI-generated news articles blamed natural disasters on government-engineered weather events. The tools are new, but the playbook—fear, doubt, division—is ancient.
The Real Threat Isn’t Belief. It’s Erosion.
Ultimately, AI’s role in conspiracy culture may not lie in what people believe but in what they stop believing. Institutions. Science. Journalists. Elections. Algorithms trained to predict and generate are now being weaponised to undermine trust in the very fabric of society.
The challenge is not merely to debunk each myth, but to inoculate society against a future where the next viral deepfake might seem more convincing than any official denial.
About the Author
Stuart Kerr is the Technology Correspondent for LiveAIWire. He writes about artificial intelligence, ethics, and how technology is reshaping everyday life. Read more