Channeling Augustus: On Agentic Offensive Information Operations

Emperor Augustus Caesar pioneered the effective use of propaganda in ancient Rome. As the grandnephew and successor to Julius, Augustus leveraged information to consolidate power and further ideals of peace and stability, known as the Pax Romana. What made Augustus effective was his ability to create messages that resonated; what made him a pioneer was his ability to time and target the messaging. With the advent of AI tools, the United States finds itself at the start of a new chapter in political propaganda machinery. Yesterday’s bots are today’s agentic trolls, undermining fragile democracies at lightning speed. The United States now faces increasing AI-powered offensive attacks from rivals and an underutilization of AI to go on offense ourselves, particularly concerning timing and targeting within ethical and moral guardrails.

Yesterday’s bots are today’s agentic trolls, undermining fragile democracies at lightning speed.

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