> While the 2016 election mythologized the power of these influence-actors, such work is slow, costly, and labor-intensive. Humans must manually create and mana

> While the 2016 election mythologized the power of these influence-actors, such work is slow, costly, and labor-intensive. Humans must manually create and manage accounts, hand-write posts and comments, and spend countless hours reading content online to signal-boost particular narratives. However, recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may soon enable the automation of much of this work, massively amplifying the disruptive potential of online influence operations. All I disagree with is that it's already semi-automated, has been for some time. A long time ago, I saw a tech support person with a spreadsheet full of formulaic responses for common issues. "We're sorry you're having trouble with _x_ , dear _y_, have you tried _z_. Please accept a $10 discount voucher for your trouble. Thanks, Bobby Techops" kind of thing. It has progressed, I'm sure. Why wouldn't it? And will progress more. And the large actors have no incentive to tell everyone how far they have got. The opposite, in fact, they will try to hide it, e.g. Cambridge Analytica being dragged kicking and screaming into the light. And a small army of clever educated young people isn't that expensive to a large corporate or state actor. Call Centers depend on it.