--- title: "Elon Musk: “Advanced AI” Will Manipulate Social Media" description: "Elon Musk tweeted early Thursday morning that \"advanced AI\" will be used to \"manipulate social media\" — if, he opined, it hasn't done so already." date: "2019-09-26" modified: "2019-09-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-ai-manipulate-social-media" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "advanced ai" - "ai robots" - "artificial intelligence" - "elon musk" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk: “Advanced AI” Will Manipulate Social Media ![Elon Musk tweeted early Thursday morning that "advanced AI" will be used to "manipulate social media" — if, he opined, it hasn't done so already.]() *\Image: Daniel Oberhaus via Flickr/Victor Tangermann\* ## AI Threat Artificial intelligence could be destabilizing the internet news ecosystem. And according to billionaire Elon Musk, social media is the first to fall prey. Elon Musk [tweeted]() early Thursday morning that "advanced AI" will be used to "manipulate social media" — if, he opined, it hasn't done so already. He added that "anonymous bot swarms" are "evolving rapidly." ## Bot Swarms It's unclear what exactly Musk was referring to when he warned about "advanced AI" and "anonymous bot swarms." It may be related to a [bombshell report]() by the *New York Times* that was published two hours prior to Musk's tweets, detailing how at [least 70 countries]() used social media to spread disinformation. Musk has talked about the impending threat of AI in the past. "Vastly more risk than North Korea," [he tweeted]() in 2017. In a 2018 documentary called "Do You Trust This Computer?" [Musk suggested]() that AI could become “an immortal dictator from which we could never escape.” ## Great Success Musk could also be talking about something far more mundane. "Anonymous bot swarms" could simply be referring to his [countless impersonators]() on Twitter, as [*Business Insider* points out]() — or fake bot accounts as a whole on social media. Those swarms of fake identities can be used for great political gain, if the 2016 U.S. presidential election is anything to go by. [Evidence shows]() that thousands of bots originating from inside Russia had great success in swaying the believes of millions of Americans. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk has warned that 'advanced AI' could poison social media]() \[*Business Insider*\] **More on Musk and AI:** *[Elon Musk: We Communicate Too Slowly for Future AI to Understand]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()