It’s true that manipulation of information has been the practice of the powerful for a long time, but I don’t think it’s accurate to say that the degree or scale to which it’s been possible to do has remained the same. As an analogy, consider that both knives and nuclear bombs have the ability to kill people while having quite different implications, particularly with regard to the health and flourishing of our species.

Obviously AI isn’t all bad. It’s not even “bad”. It just is. But the blast radius of a Bad Decision by a Bad Actor is much wider if armed with these new tools.