{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T08:48:01Z","timestamp":1782809281988,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"ECMS","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper investigates Synthetic Authority in youth radicalisation, describing a shift from deepfake deception to the direct elevation of AI as a moral and epistemic authority. It argues that radicals increasingly exploit the Machine Heuristic (the bias that views machines as more rational and objective than humans) amplified by Ontological Reversal, where youth regard digital spaces as the primary reality and the physical world as secondary. Within this context, AI Gurus, whether algorithmic or hybrid entities, emerge not as human imitators but as post-human oracles claiming freedom from human error. They use algorithmic transparency, gamified extremist narratives, and techno-animism to drive identity fusion and emotional alignment with extremist ideologies. The study concludes that countering Synthetic Authority requires moving beyond fact-checking toward counter-ontological narratives, improved neurocognitive AI literacy, and hybrid intelligence systems to disrupt the fusion of digital identity and real-world radicalisation, emphasizing the renewed value of human imperfection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7148\/2026-0180","type":"proceedings-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T08:36:46Z","timestamp":1782808606000},"page":"180-187","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The hegemony of synthetic authority: from deepfake pretense to algorithmic theocracy in youth radicalisation"],"prefix":"10.7148","author":[{"given":"Cristina","family":"Brasi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Beatrice","family":"Seccomandi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Filippo","family":"Sanfilippo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"4144","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"event":{"name":"40th ECMS International Conference on Modelling and Simulation"},"container-title":["ECMS 2026 Proceedings edited by Filippo Sanfilippo, Florenc Demrozi, Fabio Sgarbossa, Mohammad Poursina"],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T08:36:53Z","timestamp":1782808613000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.scs-europe.net\/dlib\/2026\/ecms2026acceptedpapers\/0180_fes_ecms2026_0056.pdf"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7148\/2026-0180","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,23]]}}}