AI chatbots may be better than search engines in guarding against foreign propaganda

In a test, popular AI chatbots mostly debunked falsehoods spread by other countries and avoided uncritically spreading falsehoods better than search engines. AI summaries above search results fared worse.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5333x3000+0+0/resize/5333x3000!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa8%2F06%2Fa0997e9e4141bb678bd7f1b92548%2F2026-07-ai-state-answers-final.jpg' alt='NPR and NewsGuard developed queries for AI chatbots and search engines using false narratives spread by China, Iran and Russia and compared their performances.'/><p>In a test, popular AI chatbots mostly debunked falsehoods spread by other countries and avoided uncritically spreading falsehoods better than search engines. AI summaries above search results fared worse.</p><p>(Image credit: Getty Images)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5876436' />