Using AI to REMOVE Propaganda

The AIs most are using for free right now are based on large language models (LLMs) – they digest vast amounts of content and, from that, deduce rules about how to interpret what you give them. Because they are given so much compute power, and can consume so much content, they can quickly produce something that looks convincing.

Of course, what looks convincing is often not true – ask any con man. With AIs this is particularly true for narrow subject areas. Ask then anything about Scottish Government policy, for example, and you’ll find only a handful of referenced sources – many with strong political bias.

Using an AI can easily generate political propaganda, dressed up as fact.

But don’t give up! AIs are still useful in other ways. For example, tidying up your text and checking grammar (you can probably tell I didn’t use one in writing this article). They can also re-write text in different ways – e.g. pulling out key points or making a summary more engaging. You could probably do this yourself, but its just quicker with an AI to help.

It occurred to me that I could do the same thing with things other people had written.

I have a particular bug bear about British media in Scotland – virtually all are based in England and are forever misrepresenting what our Scottish Government and Scottish political parties do. The slant is always pro-unionist, pro-Westminster. They’re always fast to highlight apparent issues (with no balanced comparison with e.g. England) and never highlight Scottish success. This even extends to the BBC in Scotland, which accepts more factual errors than all other areas of the BBC combined.

What if AI could help address this bias? I thought I’d try an experiment.

Back in the day, The Times used to be a respected newspaper. It checked facts and presented balanced views. Nowadays it sits squarely to the right of the political spectrum. And for this reason, it is firmly against the progressive policies favoured by Scottish Governments and Parties.

It published a long article recently about the up-coming Scottish Government budget, entitled “SNP seeks third decade in power with cost of living budget”. Apparently the SNP is reported to be announcing “a package to fix the NHS and support family budgets as the party fights to stay in control at Holyrood”.

Whilst Scotland was hit by COVID just like every other country, recovery of its health service is driven primarily by the money passed back to it by Westminster – over which it has no control. Despite this, The SNP has delivered better outcomes by virtually any measure compared to the British Government that runs the NHS in England. The SNP has also delivered some uniquely Scottish measures to support families, reducing child poverty to much lower levels than are seen in England. But I digress. Naturally The Times makes no reference to this.

I won’t summarise all the bias in The Times’ article - it would be a boringly long excercise. Instead I’ll show you what happened when I asked an AI (Microsoft’s Copilot in this case) to summarise it in a neutral way, removing anything subjective. Here’s the result:

First are the key highlights with subjectivity and political commentary removed, followed by a longer “neutral” narrative. A comparison of the original with this “cleaned up” version highlights clearly exactly how much of The Times’ text was really comment rather than reporting.

Pre-election Budget Goals

• Address cost of living and improve public services.

• Strengthen NHS recovery and support family budgets.

Key Measures Expected

• Expand free childcare to remove delays in access.

• Increase funding for social care to reduce hospital discharge delays.

• Provide additional support for colleges to boost skills and economic growth.

• Offer relief for businesses facing significant business rate increases.

Tax and Fiscal Adjustments

• Possible changes to income tax anomaly affecting middle-income earners.

• Consideration of council tax cap to prevent large increases.

Anti-Poverty Initiatives

• Allocate £155 million windfall to measures such as childcare and school meal expansion.

Other Planned Actions

• Sports development policies linked to recent international events.

• Continued focus on balancing economic growth with family support.

Political Context

• Labour will abstain on the budget vote, ensuring passage without major negotiations.

• Government still engaging with other parties for additional support.

The Scottish Government is preparing a pre-election budget aimed at addressing the cost of living and improving public services. Key measures expected include expanded free childcare to eliminate delays in access, increased funding for social care to reduce hospital discharge delays, and support for the college sector to enhance skills and economic growth. Additional relief for businesses is anticipated to offset significant business rate increases following a revaluation.

The budget may also address the income tax anomaly affecting middle-income earners and consider adjustments to council tax, potentially introducing a cap on increases. Anti-poverty initiatives will benefit from a £155 million windfall, with discussions on how best to allocate these funds, including potential enhancements to childcare and school meal provisions.

Sports development policies are planned to build on Scotland’s recent international participation, and measures to strengthen the NHS are a priority. While independent forecasts indicate fiscal challenges ahead, short-term pressures have been eased by improved tax and social security revenues and a one-off Treasury boost.

Labour has announced it will abstain on the budget vote, ensuring its passage without the usual negotiations, though the government continues to seek support from other parties. The overall strategy aims to balance economic growth, family support, and public service improvements while managing long-term financial sustainability.

I’d like an app that takes British news sources and automates this de-politicisation for me. Of course, Scotland could just regulate its media itself. But for that, we need independence.