As a public relations professional, “Wag the Dog” was always one of my favorite movies. For those unfamiliar, or too young, the 1997 political satire showed us how PR wizardry could conjure up a fake war to distract the public from a presidential scandal. To any of us in the PR trenches, it was a master class in the power of spin. With a producer and a few clever narratives, the film demonstrated that you could control the news cycle and craft an alternate reality. It was both far-fetched and disturbingly plausible – a satire that left us chuckling nervously at the possibilities.
Back then, it all seemed like a well-crafted but exaggerated “what if?” The idea of a small group manipulating public perception on such a grand scale was the stuff of conspiracy theories. But here we are in 2024, and the producer of that film could have never predicted just how real that movie would become – not because politics has become more corrupt (we’re already swimming in those waters), but because technology has evolved to the point where anyone can wag the dog. And I’m not talking about hiring a Hollywood producer to orchestrate a fake conflict. Now, you just need AI and a Wi-Fi connection.
With the rise of AI technology, the art of perception manipulation has moved from the hands of a few select PR maestros into the keyboards of anyone with a little ingenuity and a slight disregard for truth. Welcome to the age where creating a fake war – or, really, any false narrative – is easier than ever. Back when “Wag the Dog” premiered, you had to hire actors, shoot film, and bribe some network execs to pull off a media coup. Now, AI can whip up a fake video with the kind of precision that makes old-school CGI look like Pong. What used to be a complicated, expensive PR stunt has become a DIY project. A few years ago, the thought of someone being able to simulate reality with such precision and ease was laughable. The tech simply wasn’t there.
But fast forward to today, and those tools that were once only accessible to shadowy government agencies have been democratized. AI models are learning at a breakneck pace, getting smarter, more intuitive, and – frankly – better at faking authenticity. Now, every basement conspiracy theorist with a MacBook and an overactive imagination can play at wagging the dog.
We are in the midst of an unprecedented surge in AI-driven technologies. Deepfakes, AI-generated content and algorithm-driven news cycles are blurring the line between fact and fiction in a way that directly echoes the core premise of “Wag the Dog.” As AI becomes more sophisticated, the film’s themes of public perception manipulation feel timelier than ever. With the rise of social media disinformation, bots, and ongoing debates over “fake news,” many of the movie’s satirical scenarios have become a daily reality. AI-manipulated narratives are being used to shape our elections, public health issues, and geopolitical tensions, making Wag the Dog’s cautionary tale especially relevant in today’s political and media landscape.
In “Wag the Dog,” the producer famously quipped, “You don’t have to go to war. You just have to look like you’re at war.” Now, with AI, you don’t even need to look like you’re at war – you just need a well-crafted deepfake and a couple thousand bots to flood the narrative. Public perception can be flipped, spun, and mangled into shapes even the most cynical spin doctor of the ’90s could never dream of.
Of course, there’s still a certain irony in all of this. AI’s capacity to manipulate perception is perhaps the ultimate proof of what “Wag the Dog” was trying to tell us all along: it’s about GREAT storytelling. And AI? It’s the best storyteller we’ve ever seen. That’s where this gets interesting for us in the public relations field. While this new AI frontier can seem like a dystopian nightmare, it also opens up tremendous possibilities for those of us in the industry. Yes, AI can spin falsehoods, but in the right hands, it can also be a powerful tool for transparency, advocacy, and authentic storytelling. The same technology that can generate deepfakes can also be used to analyze vast amounts of data, gauge public sentiment in real-time, and create more genuine connections with audiences.
AI allows PR professionals to craft personalized, engaging narratives at scale. Imagine creating dynamic campaigns that adapt to audience feedback in real-time, or using AI to identify trends that allow you to position your client ahead of the news cycle, not behind it. AI isn’t just about faking it – it can help tell the truth more effectively by giving professionals the tools to communicate with precision and impact.
So, while it might feel like we’re living in the shadow of “Wag the Dog,” the reality is that PR professionals have an opportunity to embrace this technology and use it to strengthen public trust, not undermine it. After all, good PR has always been about telling the right story at the right time. With AI, we’re just better equipped to do it – on a scale that even Hollywood couldn’t dream up.
