AI vs. truth: Inside the fight to keep propaganda out of the algorithm

A revealing conversation with NewsGuard’s Steven Brill on trust, truth, and the battle for clean data in the AI age.  The AI era is rewriting the rules of media — but what happens when disinformation sneaks into the algorithms shaping what we see and believe?This week on The Media Copilot, I sat down with Steven Brill, a legend in the journalism world and co-founder of NewsGuard, the company working to restore trust in news. Steven’s media legacy includes launching Court TV, creating American Lawyer magazine, and authoring bestsellers on health care, education, and much more. But his latest focus? Making sense of AI’s impact on information integrity.In this episode, we dive into:The bombshell NewsGuard report exposing a Russian propaganda campaign that infiltrated AI training dataWhat this means for platforms like ChatGPT and PerplexityHow to fight misinformation inside the machineWhether NewsGuard itself can stay unbiased — and how it handles criticsWhat’s next for NewsGuard in the AI era (including an exclusive announcement: NewsGuard’s TrueNews AI, a small language model that indexes only sites NewsGuard deems “not unreliable”)If you care about the future of media, credibility, and the truth itself in a world shaped by AI, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.Listen now to hear from Steven Brill on the fight to keep our information ecosystem clean — and how we all have a role to play.Coming up: Free Webinar – April 10I'm also hosting a live webinar on Thursday, April 10 with David Buttle, founder of DJB Strategies. We'll be taking a deep dive into AI substitution risk — how AI-powered search engines are summarizing the news, killing clicks, and reshaping publisher economics.We'll cover:What types of content are most at riskWhy AI search is disrupting audience engagementTactical strategies to protect and future-proof your content businessVisit mediacopilot.ai to register and secure your spot.The Media Copilot is a podcast and newsletter that explores how generative AI is changing media, journalism, and the news.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to The Media Copilot newsletter.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explore our courses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on how to use AI tools, tailored for media, marketers, PR professionals, and other content creators.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow us on X.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the podcast on:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Other podcast apps⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This episode of The Media CoPilot was produced by Pete Pachal, Executive Producer Michele Musso, and with video/audio editing by the Musso Media team. Produced by Musso Media. © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Favorite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License