How do authoritarian regimes use artificial intelligence? In this episode of the Armenian-language Ampop Talk podcast, Christian Ginosyan speaks with Prof. Florian Töpfl, Chair of Political Communication at the University of Passau, about the research project “Authoritarian Artificial Intelligence.”
The project, conducted by researchers from the Universities of Passau and Bamberg and funded by the Bavarian Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt), explores:
- how Russia is developing its own generative AI models under strict state control,
- how “authoritarian data” shape the behaviour and outputs of these systems,
- and what risks such models pose to the AI ecosystems and societies of democratic countries.
This conversation highlights a crucial point: discussions about AI must consider not only the technology itself, but also the political system, power structures, and underlying values that shape how these technologies are built.
The English transcript of the episodе is available here.
Journalist Christian Ginosyan prepared this interview as part of The Berlin Journalism School’s (BJS) Strengthening Resilience Against Disinformation program, which is supported by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.