NEW YORK — Gearing up for the 2024 election, BCW, along with tech company Limbik, is rolling out a new tool that not only roots out disinformation but brings the new capabilities in determining how believable and spreadable it is.

The AI-based tool, called BCW Decipher, also determines whether foreign actors are behind propagating particular falsehoods and the potential damage of disinformation on companies and other organizations, said global chief innovation officer Chat Latz.

Latz noted that Decipher’s ability to determine the believability and virality of misinformation is a big differentiator in the technology, factors that will be considered in BCW’s work with clients in mitigating such falsehoods, Latz said.

“To say what the likelihood that a given segment of the population is going to believe this, that’s really powerful when dealing with these subjective issues,” Latz said.

He said the need for advancing technology aimed at combatting disinformation emerged during the 2020 election and since, as the propagation of falsehoods has influenced public opinion on key issues including healthcare.

“We started to see growing interest and concern among clients around this area heading into the 2024 election cycle,” he said, noting the damaging impact disinformation can have on brand reputation and value. “It became a major threat,” he said.

Limbik CEO and co-founder Zach Schwitzky said BCW Decipher is an expansion of technology Limbik created for use by US government agencies and NGOs roughly four years ago to identify and evaluate informational threats.

“Our cognitive AI platform predicts the believability of a narrative and if it’s likely to drive action — the two most important metrics when considering impact to your business or brand. This partnership with BCW, and its capacity to use our data solution to launch communications efforts to protect brands, is game-changing in terms of building organizational resilience,” Limbik said. “BCW Decipher powered by Limbik combines sourcing and assessing the potential for damage with industry-leading crisis preparedness and mitigation communications solutions. Together, we can help clients stop weaponized information from disrupting a business.”

Decipher will be embedded throughout BCW, bringing the benefits of the tool’s new capabilities to practices across the agency," Latz said.

“It drives quicker decision making, better issues predictability and preparedness,” he said.