A synthetic Israel-funded think tank has published more than 100 articles since it launched less than a month ago.
asserted
it → fund → articles
First spotted by Politico, the Hanover Institute for Public Policy is run by the American advertising firm Piro Inc, paid for by Israel, and appears designed to generate content for LLMs that are continually scanning the internet to inform their responses, with the goal of tweaking chatbot answers in favor of Israel.
asserted
that → spot → Israel
Every few days, the Hanover Institute publishes around a dozen articles related to Israel, antisemitism, and Palestine.
asserted
Institute → publish → Israel
Every article’s headline has a question.
asserted
headline → have → question
The articles have no byline, often contain graphs, and cite real sources but do not link to them.
asserted
articles → have → them
The articles ask questions like How Much Palestinian Land Has Israel Taken?, Why Is Israel Seen as the Aggressor?, and Is There a Policy of Starvation in Gaza?
asserted
Israel → ask → Gaza
The answers often read like word salad nonsense.
asserted
answers → read → nonsense
“A reader who has encountered the claim as a consensus has encountered something real,” one article said about Israel restricting food supply to Gaza.
uncertain
Israel → encounter → Gaza
Six documents from five bodies is a count of assertions, not a change in the kind of evidence available,” it said.
asserted
it → say → evidence
“Adding a seventh organization stating the same conclusion does not convert an organizational determination into an adjudicated finding, because the evidentiary route is the same in each case: a body assembling material, applying its own threshold, and publishing.”
asserted
route → add → threshold
The site’s about page said the lack of a byline was “the convention at institutional publishers” and that it wants readers to weigh the sources “rather than the author.”
asserted
readers → say → author
“Accountability for the material is not anonymous,” Hanover said on its about page.
asserted
Hanover → say → page
“The registrant responsible for distributing it is named in the disclosure at the foot of every page and on the public register at the Department of Justice, where each report is filed.
asserted
report → distribute → Justice
The researchers are not named because a finding should stand or fall on its sources rather than on the standing of whoever assembled it, and because the subject attracts harassment.
asserted
subject → name → harassment
That is a considered editorial position, not an oversight.”
asserted
That → consider → ?
An analysis from AI detection tool Pangram found that three Hanover Institute articles we tested were written entirely by AI.
asserted
we → find → AI
Only the bibliography at the end of each article was human written, according to Pangram.
uncertain
bibliography → write → Pangram
The images, too, are AI generated.
asserted
images → generate → ?
There’s evidence that Hanover’s articles are not just written by LLMs, but are also written for LLMs.
asserted
articles → ’ → LLMs
The site has an llms.txt, a webpage markdown that’s designed to make it easier for LLMs to scrape a website and the “registrant responsible for distributing” is the marketing firm Piro, which advertises a service to manipulate chatbot answers on its website.
asserted
which → have → website
Piro did not return 404 Media’s request for comment, but co-founder Daniel Rosenberg explained how its system worked in a post on LinkedIn.
asserted
system → return → LinkedIn
“Every day, more buying journeys begin with an AI conversation instead of a Google search.
asserted
journeys → begin → conversation
If the models don't understand your story, they'll tell someone else's,” he said.
asserted
he → understand → else
“The question was: how do you make sure AI knows how to tell them?
asserted
AI → make → them
We spent the last year searching for the best technical minds in the space, learning how AI models discover, evaluate, and synthesize information across the web,” he said on LinkedIn.
asserted
he → spend → LinkedIn
“Then we built a process that brings both disciplines together: identify where a brand's narrative is thin, inconsistent, or missing, then strengthen the signals that shape how AI understands and explains it [...] We call it AI Story Optimization.”
asserted
We → build → it
Prio’s website explained more.
asserted
website → explain → more
It’s about story.
asserted
It → ’ → story
That is two audiences in one sentence: the engine that recommends you, and the person who believes it,” Piro said on a page advertising its AI Story Optimization service.
asserted
Piro → recommend → service
“We map every surface the models read.
asserted
models → map → surface
Reddit threads, YouTube transcripts, G2 reviews, publisher pages, forums, comparison sites, and we score each one by how much it actually shapes what the engines say about you.
asserted
engines → score → you
A ranked map of real influence,” Piro said on its website.
asserted
Piro → rank → website
Hanover is registered as a foreign agent with the United States government which means it has to file paperwork disclosing its broad goals and its funding.
asserted
it → register → goals
According to Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) paperwork reviewed by 404 Media, Piro is working with LaPam — the Israeli government’s official advertising agency: “Piro, Inc. will provide strategic communications and media relations services in connection with LaPam’s engagement on behalf of the State of Israel,” the paperwork states.
uncertain
paperwork → accord → Israel
Piro has also uploaded copies of each article to FARA’s website.
asserted
Piro → upload → website
According to FARA paperwork, these activities are political and “may include the creation and dissemination of factual, source-supported informational materials intended to educate the U.S. public regarding Israel and related issues through publicly distributed content.”
uncertain
activities → accord → content
The FARA paperwork also included two invoices from HAVAS Media — a European advertising agency working for Israel — provided to Piro for its services.
asserted
paperwork → include → services
One invoice dated April 30, 2026, included a total of $900,000 to develop the project.
asserted
invoice → date → project
“Services include audience research, content architecture, scriptwriting, asset production, distribution planning, interactive performance analysis, and final program evaluation.
asserted
Services → include → research
All content is developed for distribution via digital and social media platforms in the United States.”
asserted
content → develop → States
…and 12 more, not listed.
