Defending against such an "attack" is much easier if the technology is widely available and many people can play around with it and explore the limits.
At some point you have to let the rest of society in on it. As technology advances, if you keep the power away from the public, eventually you will split into two civilizations a vast divide creating an asymmetry that will be exploited by those on the elite side of the divide. It must be an aspect of technological rollout to figure out how to keep its usage safe once it is widespread.
You are assuming that such tech is not already being (or has been) developed covertly by malicious actors. Developing this and making it open source brings more awareness about the subject and will make it easier to develop defense models against such bots (whether already in existence or that will be developed in future).
> You are assuming that such tech is not already being (or has been) developed covertly by malicious actors.
I fail to see where playing out the "but others are doing it too" card exempts the responsibility of those who either lower or eliminate the barrier to entry to these attacks.