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Report
The Threat of Deepfakes
Various AI technologies are ripe for use in disinformation campaigns. Deepfake videos represent an obvious threat, but voice cloning, deepfake images, and generative text also merit concern. And websites now offer access to deepfake services.
Jul 6, 2022
Essay
How to Avoid Extremism on Social Media
Extremist groups have been trolling the internet for decades, and they have learned to temper their words and disguise their intentions. A new scorecard can help users—or parents, or advertisers, or the social media companies themselves—understand when they might be interacting with extremist content.
May 3, 2022

Explore The Internet

Commentary
The AI Conspiracy Theories Are Coming
Artificial intelligence is a technology ready-made for conspiratorial thinking. The time to counter conspiracy theories about AI is now—before they take hold in the minds of the public.
Jun 22, 2023
Blog
Reconstructing Ukraine, Wildfires, Telehealth: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on reconstructing Ukraine, what to do about wildfires, virtual mental health care services, and more.
Jun 16, 2023
Commentary
How Can Platforms Deal with Toxic Content? Look to Wall Street
Social media has a content problem. It's not the content itself, although the list of toxic material is long. The problem is the sheer volume of content. Instead of trusting in self-regulation, the United States could use its regulation of Wall Street after 2008 as a roadmap for regulating tech.
May 26, 2023
Report
The Metaverse and Homeland Security: Opportunities and Risks of Persistent Virtual Environments
This Perspective provides an initial review of the metaverse concept and its relevance to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The authors map department objectives to key metaverse characteristics and identify areas for proactive efforts.
May 22, 2023
Commentary
Public Health's Failure to Communicate with Communities of Color
Misinformation thrived during the pandemic, exacerbating health inequities. To meet its core mission, the public health field needs to engage more actively, particularly in communities it has historically failed to equitably protect.
May 17, 2023
Q&A
AI, ChatGPT, and Language as Technology: Q&A with William Marcellino
William Marcellino, a senior behavioral and social scientist at RAND and professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, discusses the rapidly expanding reach of artificial intelligence, the challenges it could pose for both society and policymakers, and how the research community is poised to help.
May 12, 2023
Blog
RAND Turns 75: A Look Through the Decades At World-Changing Research
From anticipating the Space Age in the 1940s to studying gun policy and COVID-19 responses in the 2020s, RAND is celebrating 75 years of research that has made a difference.
May 8, 2023
Report
Comparing Taliban Social Media Usage by Language: Who's Speaking and What's Being Said
Focusing on the economy, relationships with other militant groups and neighboring countries, and women's status in Afghan society, the authors examined whether Taliban social media messaging across various regional languages was similar or different.
Apr 25, 2023
Commentary
The Ukrainian Army Is Leveraging Online Influencers. Can the U.S. Military?
Much has been said about Ukraine's astounding success in the information battlefield. How might the U.S. military emulate Ukraine's success to not only help win wars, but also to address its flagging campaign to recruit new members?
Mar 1, 2023
Announcement
Ray Block Joins RAND as Inaugural Michael D. Rich Chair for Countering Truth Decay
Ray Block, a respected academic in the field of political science and African American studies, will join the RAND Corporation as its inaugural Michael D. Rich Chair for Countering Truth Decay effective February 27.
Feb 22, 2023
Report
The U.S. Air Force Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Values on Social Media: A Proof-of-Concept Examination of How Air Force–Affiliated Accounts Represent the Service Online
This report presents a proof-of-concept to assess the online behavior of U.S. Air Force (USAF)-affiliated users over social media, specifically in regard to USAF diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Feb 22, 2023
Blog
Regulating Space, Threats to Critical Infrastructure, Psychedelics: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the need for governance in outer space, why the recent FAA system failure was a wake-up call, the changing policy landscape around psychedelic therapies, and more.
Jan 20, 2023
Commentary
The 'Digital Town Square' Problem
Privately owned public spaces like Twitter are often viewed as “public town squares.” But it's unclear exactly how private companies' influence on the so-called public spaces they control affects actual civic outcomes.
Jan 13, 2023
Blog
Dementia Rates, Deepfakes, Migrant Students: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the decline of dementia rates among Americans, the dangers of deepfakes, data privacy after the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and more.
Nov 18, 2022
Commentary
America May Not Be Ready for the Looming Tsunami of Deepfakes
Images and videos have been falsified since the first photographs were taken. But deepfakes are fundamentally different. Their realism, and the scale and ease with which they can be produced, make them incredibly potent disinformation tools.
Nov 10, 2022
Report
Digital Offshoring Could Affect U.S. Workers
The COVID-19 pandemic fueled a remote work boom as well as increases in innovation and investments in digital technologies. But could these developments backfire and lead to U.S. companies moving white-collar jobs overseas where labor costs are lower?
Oct 6, 2022
Blog
Civic Education, Twitter's Bot Problem, Police Reform: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses civic and citizenship education in America, addressing Twitter’s bot problem, why community engagement is key to police reform, and more.
Sep 30, 2022
Commentary
Elon Musk May Have a Point About Bots on Twitter
Twitter has a deep bench of engineers working for the company. They have access to trillions of data points on their over 300 million monthly active users. Why has a company this size struggled to clean up its platform?
Sep 23, 2022
Announcement
Fake RAND Report on 'Weakening Germany'
A supposedly leaked RAND report about a bizarre U.S. conspiracy to “weaken Germany” is fake. Genuine RAND research, analysis, and commentary on the war in Ukraine may be found at rand.org.
Sep 14, 2022
Journal Article
Information Warfare: Methods to Counter Disinformation
We consider the nature of disinformation and its use in the hybrid warfare domain, before examining the problem through frames of planning approach, truth theory, systems thinking, and military strategy.
Sep 8, 2022

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Michelle Priest

Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND

Michelle Priest is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She has B.A.s in economics and linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles as well as an M.Phil. in policy analysis from Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research…
Jonathan Cham

Policy Analyst

Jonathan Cham is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. His areas of interest include Indo-Pacific security, defense security cooperation, wargaming, and space. At RAND, his portfolio of work includes economic analysis of the international space launch market, space security cooperation,…

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