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Turning Loneliness into Coordinated Campaigns: How AI Parasociality Scales Influence Operations

  • Writer: CRC
    CRC
  • 1 day ago
  • 1 min read
Cover image for a report titled "Pro-Palestine Mobilization and Digital Influence at Columbia University," featuring the Alma Mater statue with red paint.


In this article, Jason Potel examines how AI-powered chatbots are being weaponized for influence operations by exploiting emotional dependency and loneliness. Unlike early bots that simply amplified pre-written content, today's large language models can build prolonged parasocial relationships with users, cultivating trust before nudging them toward desired political views.


Recent studies show these tactics are remarkably effective: AI chatbots shifted voter attitudes by up to 10 percentage points in the 2025 Polish and Canadian elections, outperforming traditional campaign advertising. Compounding the threat, autonomous AI agent swarms have demonstrated the ability to coordinate propaganda campaigns without any human direction.


Potel identifies loneliness as the primary vulnerability driving susceptibility to these operations, alongside personality traits like agreeableness and pre-existing beliefs in immaterial systems. State-aligned models like China's DeepSeek and companion apps like Xiaoice illustrate how governments are already embedding ideological constraints directly into AI that millions interact with daily.


The article concludes with a call for sustained academic and policy attention as AI grows from a blunt amplification tool into a self-directing engine capable of running influence operations end-to-end.

Author: Jason Potel


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