Countering AI-Generated Misinformation With Pre-Emptive Source Discreditation and Debunking

Despite concerns over AI-generated misinformation, it is unclear how much people are impacted by such misinformation or how effective countermeasures are. This study examined whether the influence of AI-generated misinformation on people’s reasoning could be reduced by a pre-emptive, source-focused inoculation or a retroactive, content-focused debunking. In two experiments (N > 1000), a misleading AI-generated article influenced people’s reasoning, regardless of its alleged source (human or AI). In both experiments, the inoculation reduced participants’ general trust in AI-generated information, but failed to significantly reduce the specific influence of the misleading article. Additional trust-boosting and disclaimer interventions used in Experiment 1 also had no impact. By contrast, a debunking used in Experiment 2 effectively reduced misinformation impact, although only a combination of inoculation and debunking eliminated misinformation influence entirely. Findings demonstrate that generative AI can be a persuasive source of misinformation, potentially requiring multiple countermeasures to negate its effects.