The lecture analyzes three levels at which AI content can be socially harmful: Knowledge erosion: This examines the role of AI Slop, the mass production of text by LLMs, and AI agents that spread spam. Propaganda: There are months in the year 2026 when one in five fact-checks in Europe already concerns AI content. AI propaganda may sound less impressive than the dramatic claim that an AI system could soon wipe out humanity. But unlike such speculations, it is clear: AI propaganda is already a reality. Digital violence: Here, concrete individuals are insulted in their dignity or their public standing is damaged. The most obvious example: sexualized deepfakes. These three levels disrupt the quality and diversity of democratic debate: but there are counter-strategies that the lecture presents—and that we must now discuss.
The lecture analyzes three levels at which AI content can be harmful to society:
Knowledge erosion: Here, the role of AI Slop, the mass production of text by LLMs, and AI agents that spread spam are analyzed.
Propaganda: There are months in the year 2026 when already one in five fact-checks in Europe concerns AI content. Propaganda with AI may sound less impressive than the dramatic claim that an AI system could soon wipe out humanity. But unlike such speculations, it is clear: AI propaganda is already a reality.
Digital violence: Here, concrete people are insulted in their dignity or their public standing is damaged. The clearest example: sexualized deepfakes.
These three levels disturb the quality and diversity of democratic debate: but there are counter-strategies that the lecture presents – and which we now need to discuss.
The first re:publica Vienna brought the most important European festival for digital society, politics, technology, and culture to Austria for the first time. From October 2 to 3, 2026, the Kulturhaus Brotfabrik became a place for debates and keynotes with international speakers. The teams from OKTO and Moment Magazin recorded the events and have been presenting the videos since October 5 in the slots at 6:00 PM and 11:10 PM.
