{"id":287621,"date":"2023-11-11T22:18:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-11T21:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=287621"},"modified":"2023-11-11T22:18:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T21:18:37","slug":"keep-an-eye-out-for-ai-climate-bots-haunting-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=287621","title":{"rendered":"Keep an Eye Out for AI \u201cClimate Bots\u201d Haunting the Web"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Guest Essay by Linnea Lueken<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears that \u201cAI bots\u201d are now posting false comments on climate change related articles online. In an article about glaciers in Chile<\/a>, there are several pro-climate alarm comments that have a suspicious similarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are polite, start with either a personal anecdote or cited an \u201cexpert,\u201d explaining how climate change is allegedly affecting the world, and end with an exclamation about how they can understand, given the above facts, why it\u2019s important to \u201caddress\u201d or \u201cdo something\u201d about climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Thanks for your concern, Charlotte, but I don\u2019t really trust your friend.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Darn indeed Lisa! Kinda weird that you used the phrase \u201cfood security\u201d too, and under an article about glaciers, though.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The comment from \u201cBrandon\u201d is the only one of these that actually mentions anything related to the article the comment is under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would be a refreshing change of pace from the usual tone of alarmist commentary, except if you are a human being with a functioning brain, with pattern recognition and who can pass Captcha tests (FOX News\u2019 website requires no captcha to make an account and post comments) then you will have noted something suspicious by the second comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey, isn\u2019t the structure of these awfully similar?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who have been online for a very long time, generally have a well-honed inner bot detector. Most bots on Twitter are trying to sell some digital coin scam or pornography or use ChatGPT to make a low-effort gimmick Twitter account. These AI \u201cClimate bots\u201d, on the other hand, are selling a\u00a0narrative<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cCharles Vanderbilt\u201d gave a helpful comment that had nothing to do with the subject of a Fox article<\/a> about those Just Stop Oil goobers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This person also has a rich posting history on Reddit\u2019s r\/ClimateOffensive, \u201crich history\u201d meaning\u00a0one total post<\/a>\u00a0with the exact same wording as a comment by \u201cEdward Witmore\u201d on the glacier article:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Charles and one \u201cRyan White\u201d also posted on this article, here<\/a>, concerned comments about how they can see the \u201curgent need to address climate change.\u201d Reddit\u2019s r\/climateskeptics<\/a> also has a few posts by these bots. They only just popped up in the last few days, right after ChatGPT released a new feature<\/a> that makes it a lot easier for people who know little about programming to develop automated processes that can spam \u201coriginal\u201d posts like this across the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How expansive is this? Pulling up the same glacier article on other websites shows no similar comments. It looks like, for now, Fox and Reddit are the primary testing grounds, probably because it\u2019s easier to run bots there than places that use Captchas and similar protections for posting. As long as he or she doesn\u2019t lose interest, it\u2019s safe to assume that it\u2019s going to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the next question, though, who<\/em> is doing it? Most likely, it\u2019s just one person who is trying to do their part to \u201ceducate\u201d with climate propaganda. Since it has been posted on subreddits that are both climate skeptical and<\/em> climate alarmist, there is a good chance that the reddit posting has more to do with \u201ckarma farming<\/a>\u201d right now than propagandizing, but with higher \u201ckarma\u201d your posts get boosted so more people see them, so it probably kills both birds anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is another possible source that is not too far-fetched: most likely by way of funding, climate alarm groups and governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are millions and millions of dollars being thrown at any project \u2013 associated with universities<\/a> or otherwise \u2013  with the key phrase \u201cclimate change\u201d attached, including projects that focus on \u201ccommunication<\/a>\u201d \u2013 that is, propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCheckbook journalism\u201d is increasingly the reason why you see so many articles about climate change flooding your feed, as organizations like the Associated Press accepted millions of dollars<\/a> from groups like the Rockefeller Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to expand climate coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government agencies have held seminars<\/a> on how to \u201cbreak and fix audience mental models\u201d regarding climate change, and thanks to testimony by Michael Shellenberger we already know that government and corporate collaboration has been used to stifle dissent<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why would we think even adolescent bot posts like these wouldn\u2019t also be something the government or wealthy alarmists might throw some money at? After all, the Biden administration is deeply worried about \u201cclimate delayism\u201d<\/a> and has obviously made appeasing the green blob one of their highest priorities, especially as attitudes towards climate policy have apparently cooled<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again though, it\u2019s probably just one misinformed person sitting at home in his\/her PJs, \u201cdoing their part\u201d for the climate cause.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This kind of bot spam is easy to do, and it\u2019s going to get easier, and harder to tell the difference between bots and real comments. Right now, they (whoever they are) are spamming comments on any new article at Fox News with the phrase \u201cclimate change\u201d in the title or content. This is likely automated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We really are in an information war, and although it may feel uncomfortable to deploy similar or the same tactics, it might be necessary. We are going to see a lot more of this and worse; you can bet on it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Linnea_Lueken\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linnea Lueken<\/em>\u00a0(llueken@heartland.org<\/strong><\/a>)\u00a0is a research fellow with the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at The Heartland Institute<\/em>.\u00a0Twitter: @LinneaLueken<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest Essay by Linnea Lueken It appears that \u201cAI bots\u201d are now posting false comments on climate change related articles online. In an article about glaciers in Chile, there are several pro-climate alarm comments that have a suspicious similarity. They are polite, start with either a personal anecdote or cited an \u201cexpert,\u201d explaining how climate change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":287632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"We really are in an information war, and although it may feel uncomfortable to deploy similar or the same tactics, it might be necessary. We are going to see a lot more of this and worse; you can bet on it.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818055,691824531,691819566,691824529,691818056,691824530],"class_list":{"0":"post-287621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-charles-vanderbilt","10":"tag-chatgpt","11":"tag-climate-bots","12":"tag-climate-change","13":"tag-pro-climate-alarm","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0aiclimateban.jpg?fit=1588%2C851&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1cP3","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":251334,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=251334","url_meta":{"origin":287621,"position":0},"title":"AI chatbot encouraged man obsessed with climate change to kill himself to save planet","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Married father kills himself after talking to AI chatbot for six weeks about his climate change fears","rel":"","context":"In \"AI\"","block_context":{"text":"AI","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ai"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0AI-Heart-Concept.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0AI-Heart-Concept.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0AI-Heart-Concept.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0AI-Heart-Concept.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0AI-Heart-Concept.webp?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":309551,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=309551","url_meta":{"origin":287621,"position":1},"title":"AI chat bots are automated Wikipedias warts and all","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/03\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Having worked on the I side of AI, off and on, for over 50 years, I am fascinated by the wave of chatbots that are getting so much debate beginning with Chat GPT. 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