Epistemic Pollution: Why AI Misinformation Could Be the Next Global Crisis | On ESCP Edge

What happens when AI is used not to find the truth, but to bury it? In this episode of ESCP Edge, Nick Taylor sits down with Aurélien Acquier, Professor of Management & Sustainability and Director of the ESCP Sustainability Institute, and Jozef Cossey, postdoctoral researcher at ESCP, to explore an urgent phenomenon: epistemic pollution, i.e. the contamination of our knowledge environment by AI-generated disinformation and academic deepfakes. 🔍 In this episode: - The climate skeptic paper co-authored by Grok 3, and why it's called an "academic deepfake" - Two types of deepfakes: disinformation-driven vs. productivity-driven - Why up to 15% of academic papers in some fields may already be AI-generated - The Brandolini's Law: why producing a lie takes a fraction of the effort it requires to debunk it - How epistemic pollution mirrors physical pollution and what that tells us about solutions - Who is responsible: individuals, AI companies, regulators, or all three? - The "science depolluters" emerging to fight fake research - What universities must teach students to navigate an increasingly polluted information landscape 💡 A thought-provoking and timely conversation for researchers, educators, policymakers, and anyone who cares about the integrity of knowledge in the age of AI. Read the full report: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00076503251406457 Discover more content on ESCP Research & Impact, ESCP’s official LinkedIn page dedicated to faculty research and insights: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/escp-research-impact/ #ESCPEdge #EpistemicPollution #AcademicDeepfakes #AIDisinformation #ClimateChange #FakeScience #ArtificialIntelligence #ESCP #Misinformation