IO Factory: Simulating AI-Enabled Influence Campaigns at Scale

Source

• Source name: arXiv
• Source kind: paper
• Authors / organization: Lukasz Olejnik, Wenchao Dong, Jonas R. Kunst, Signe Riemer-Sørensen, Tobias Herb, Meeyoung Cha, Daniel Thilo Schroeder
• Venue: arXiv: cs.AI
• Published: 2026-08-11
• Collected: 2026-08-12
• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2608.10920v1
• PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.10920v1
• DOI: UNKNOWN
• Registry group: academic_apis_and_preprints
• Evidence role: canonical_academic_index
• Language: en
• Country / region: UNKNOWN

Plain-Language Brief

The paper introduces IO Factory, an AI framework designed to simulate information and influence campaigns at scale. The framework is designed to handle not just individual language models but also AI swarms, which are groups of coordinated agents that adapt to platform feedback and disguise organized campaigns as ordinary social interactions. The framework provides a controlled simulated platform to analyze these campaigns across various stages: planning, platform action, exposure, interpretation, measurement, and adaptation.

What the Document Says

• IO Factory is an AI-driven framework for simulating information and influence campaigns.
• The framework can handle not just individual language models but also AI swarms (coordinated groups of agents).
• The campaigns are analyzed across a spectrum including planning, platform action, exposure, interpretation, measurement, and adaptation.
• IO Factory represents this process inside a controlled simulated platform.
• The architecture links actor roles, platform actions, exposure records, structured model-based evaluations, and configured changes in the simulated population.
• The paper mentions an evaluation of the architecture across configurations with up to 100,000 agents.
• Results show that IO Factory can execute campaign timelines at scale and produce inspectable evidence of exposure and measured movement in configured belief variables.

Key Concepts Mentioned

• IO Factory
• AI swarms
• information and influence campaigns
• simulated platform
• actor roles
• exposure records
• structured model-based evaluations

Claims Made by the Document

• IO Factory can simulate information and influence campaigns at scale.
• IO Factory can handle AI swarms.

Evidence Used

• The text states that IO Factory is an AI framework for simulating information and influence campaigns at scale. It also mentions the handling of AI swarms within the framework.

Methods / Approach

• Simulation of information and influence campaigns using AI.
• Linking actor roles, platform actions, exposure records, structured model-based evaluations, and configured changes in a simulated population.

Limitations Stated by the Authors

UNKNOWN

Limitations Noted by the Agent

Agent interpretation — not from the source.

The agent may have limitations in understanding the specific implementation details of IO Factory or the results of its evaluation.

Open Questions

• What are the specific details of how IO Factory handles AI swarms?
• What are the specific details of the evaluation process and the configurations used?

Notes for Future Q&A

May include interpretation. Labeled where it does.

The text does not provide detailed information about the specifics of IO Factory's implementation or the evaluation process.

Raw Abstract / Excerpt

We introduce IO Factory, an AI-driven framework for simulating information and influence campaigns as fully integrated, traceable processes. The threat of digital manipulation now extends beyond persuasive text from individual language models to AI swarms, i.e., persistent groups of coordinated agents that adapt to platform feedback and disguise organized campaigns as ordinary social interaction. Because such campaigns cannot be identified from isolated messages alone, they must be analyzed across a continuous spectrum of planning, platform action, exposure, interpretation, measurement, and adaptation. IO Factory represents this process inside a controlled simulated platform, linking actor roles, platform actions, exposure records, structured model-based evaluations, and configured changes in the simulated population. We implement the architecture and evaluate it across configurations of up to 100,000 agents. The results show that IO Factory executes campaign timelines at scale and produces inspectable evidence of exposure and measured movement in configured belief variables. By recording the actors, objectives, action constraints, exposure paths, and measurement rules used in each run, IO Factory supports reproducible research and red-team analysis of coordinated influence.