U.S. and Allies Launch Efforts to Defend Information Integrity Against AI-Enabled Threats

Line of Effort 7: Defend Information Integrity

Information integrity challenges are not new, but determined foreign state adversaries and rapid technological advances, especially AI-enabled human-machine interactions, create complex dynamics that compound information risks by enabling rapid, large-scale, and targeted dissemination of AI-enabled synthetic content. Building a resilient information environment—one in which there is open, free public debate and consistent access to diverse sources of fact-based information—is an ongoing priority for the United States and its allies and partners. These features are essential for citizens to inform their opinions and exercise their human rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the right to vote. Information manipulation is destabilizing and can harm national security, democratic processes, economic welfare, the environment, crisis response, human rights, and public health. While foreign actors seeking to interfere with or manipulate the information environment pose significant risks, there are additional challenges open societies face around the quality of information online and deteriorating trust.

With allies and partners, the Department of State will continue to work to build civic information resilience, counter foreign state and non-state extremist propaganda online, and mitigate risks of AI to information integrity while protecting freedom of expression. The U.S. Government will work to protect the integrity of elections and other democratic processes across the globe. At the TTC, OECD, and G7, the United States develops shared approaches to building healthy and resilient information ecosystems. The United States and France are co-chairing the DIS/MIS Information Resource Hub, the OECD’s leading information integrity initiative. At the Hub, the Department of State is focused on increasing cooperation around sharing of best practices and strengthening information resilience, both among OECD and non-OECD countries, and developing a framework to guide whole-of-society efforts in this area. Through the Promoting Information Integrity and Resilience Initiative (Pro-Info), USAID aims to bolster healthy information ecosystems and help address information manipulation through multi-stakeholder engagement, donor coordination, and capacity building efforts.

At the third Summit for Democracy in 2024, the United States launched a democratic roadmap for building civic resilience to global digital manipulation that highlights the importance of the digital information manipulation challenge as a threat to the functionality and vitality of society; recognizes that building information integrity can be consistent with freedom of opinion and expression; reinforces private sector digital platforms’ ability to strengthen civic resilience; and prioritizes efforts to address generative AI (GAI)—particularly in the context of global 2024 elections. The United States has also endorsed the Global Declaration on Information Integrity Online, launched by Canada and the Netherlands. The Declaration, grounded in international human rights law, establishes high-level international commitments by participating states to protect and promote information integrity online.

In addition, the Department of State has announced a Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation. This Framework seeks to develop a common understanding of the threat and establish a common set of action areas from which the United States, with its allies and partners, can develop coordinated responses to foreign information manipulation and protect free and open societies.