The rapid spread of artificial intelligence is becoming a key variable in managing online public opinion, according to an article by the head of Chongqing’s municipal cyberspace administration office. Citing Xi Jinping’s call to build legal, technical monitoring, risk warning and emergency response systems, and to keep AI under human control, the author argues that AI both creates new risks and offers new governance tools.
The author says AI is reshaping how opinion forms and spreads in three ways. Large models and deepfakes allow false content to be mass-produced cheaply, including through “AI troll armies.” Algorithms can also amplify and regenerate topics, prolonging controversies and manufacturing fake public sentiment. Finally, the contest between regulators and rule-breakers has become an escalating technological arms race, with evasion techniques such as text rewriting and image tampering.
These trends challenge traditional governance. Verifying authenticity is harder, assessments can be skewed by artificially inflated popularity metrics, and responsibility is difficult to assign among model developers, users and platforms.
The author proposes three sets of measures. First, tighten source controls: graded registration and safety assessment of large models, mandatory labeling and traceability of AI-generated content through digital watermarks, and crackdowns on the illicit industry behind AI-driven opinion manipulation, with clearer lines of liability. Second, build human-machine collaboration in analysis, in which AI gathers data and tracks accounts while officials make value judgments and final decisions, supported by regular algorithm audits and a joint fact-checking system among propaganda, cyberspace and media bodies. Third, create a closed-loop defense system featuring multimodal monitoring and early warning, differentiated interventions such as adjusting recommendation weights for divisive false content, and public education on spotting deepfakes, alongside training specialists who can validate AI outputs.
Source: Study Times, October 21, 2026
https://www.studytimes.cn/jjsh/202610/t20261021_93257.html