: Using artistic-activist strategies to fight "necropolitical" technologies that reinforce structural injustices.
Most AI systems are trained on historical data. The ASRG's first pillar asks: What if the future does not look like the past? PPDI involves pre-positioning "sleeper" data points into public datasets that lie dormant until triggered by a specific real-world condition. algorithmic sabotage research group %28asrg%29
A social media giant’s “safety algorithm” was shadow-banning climate scientists while letting disinformation about vaccine fires spread. The ASRG didn’t report the problem. They exploited the algorithm’s own logic: it trusted high-engagement, verified accounts. So the group built “The Choir”—a distributed network of 50,000 volunteer accounts that would, in coordinated bursts, mark legitimate science posts as “highly valuable” and disinformation as “low-quality repetitive content.” The algorithm’s own reinforcement learning concluded the disinformation was noise. Within 48 hours, the disinformation’s reach dropped 94%. The platform’s internal report blamed “an unexpected shift in user preference signals.” They exploited the algorithm’s own logic: it trusted
Their manifesto has been translated into multiple languages, including Italian, indicating a growing international network of techno-political resistance. but to prove they are there.
We invite adversarial collaboration. Break our sabotage methods. Make your algorithms robust enough that we cannot find the seams. Until then, we will keep pressing on the cracks—not to widen them, but to prove they are there.