Chicken Little

Some accounts that have built their names using AI to research NGOs have now turned that same approach on communist and anarchist groups. I don't doubt their sincerity. But having seemingly unlimited knowledge at your fingertips makes it easy to forget that you don't know what you don't know. These groups work in several layers, and those layers rarely intersect. When they do, the connections are very hard to find. It takes copious amounts of time on the street, a lot of luck, and sometimes you just stumble onto it. You're far more likely to understand these groups through old-school journalism than through AI. The street level people don’t appear to be funded from above at all. It runs almost entirely on mutual aid. So following “big money” only gives you a small piece of the story if it’s accurate. Which it often isn’t. Even the 'obvious' players can mislead you. As Dr. Karlyn Borysenko has pointed out, PSL is often seen as a joke by anarchists and other radicals. AI isn't an all-seeing, all-knowing crystal ball. A lot of this happens face to face, between people who trust each other. It never goes online, so AI never sees it. The people on the ground may be “useful idiots”, but the ones pulling the strings know exactly what they're doing. They've stayed out of sight for decades. They'll toss the people on the ground a few tips on how not to get caught, but in the end, those people are expendable. Understanding this takes time: reading their literature, watching their meetings, talking to people, and finding sources willing to share what they've seen. AI can be a very good tool to help with research. But if you are starting with a blank slate and some chats, feeding them into AI isn’t going to provide an accurate account. This my public service to you all. Understand what you’re consuming.