Artificial Propaganda

Currency design has been politically charged since money originated thousands of years ago, and this still rings true today.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Today is different in one massive respect: it’s easier than ever to create and spread propaganda thanks to artificial intelligence and the Internet.

Earlier this month in Myanmar, a nation that has been in the midst of civil war since 2021, a rebel group declared that it had established an independent republic. Images of the republic’s purported currency debuted on January 11 via a Burmese Facebook post claiming that “Kawthoolei money has been released” and that 5,000 units of the currency equals US$100. The notes depict Nerdah Mya, a general who leads the rebel group, and illegible Burmese script. It also includes the abbreviation KTLA, referring to the Kawthoolei Army, a splinter group of the Karen National Union (KNU) that has been fighting the Myanmar junta for decades for more autonomy along the border with Thailand. 

AI-detection tools reveal the notes to be artificially generated, and a KTLA spokesperson denies that the group created the images. “We do not issue money or passports. We do issue Kawthoolei citizenship cards,” he stated. It remains undetermined who made the bank note images. Nevertheless, although the currency is not real, the interest it has generated certainly is.