Microsoft issues warning on China's use of generative AI to disrupt US elections

[midian182]

A hot potato: For the second time in just over six months, Microsoft has issued a warning about China's use of generative AI to sow disruption in the United States during this election year. State-sponsored groups, working with the backing of North Korea, are also expected to target elections in South Korea and India having launched a similar campaign during Taiwan's presidential election in January.

Microsoft's report, titled East Asia threat actors employ unique methods, notes that Chinese campaigns have continued to refine AI-generated or AI-enhanced content, creating videos, memes, and audio, among others. While their influence might not be too impactful right now, it may prove increasingly effective down the line as it becomes more sophisticated, Microsoft said.

Back in September, analysts from the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center highlighted a campaign by Chinese operatives that used generative AI to create content (see example below) for social media posts focusing on politically divisive topics, including gun violence and denigrating US political figures and symbols.

The latest report examines some of the conspiratorial content created using generative AI pushed by Chinese social media accounts. This includes a claim from Beijing-backed group Storm 1376 in August 2023 that the US government had deliberately started the Hawaii wildfires using a military-grade weather weapon. The same group published conspiracy theories relating to the Kentucky rail derailment in 2023 and tried to stoke discord in Japan and South Korea.

Storm 1376 was highly active during the Taiwanese elections in January, which is being referred to by Microsoft as a "dry run" for the upcoming elections in other countries. It posted fake audio of Foxconn founder Terry Gou, who had dropped out of the race in November, endorsing another candidate. The group also posted several AI-generated memes about eventual winner William Lai, who is pro-sovereignty. There was also an increased use of AI-generated news anchors, created by TikTok owner ByteDance's CapCut tool, in which the fake presenters made unsubstantiated claims about Lai's private life, including that he fathered illegitimate children.

One of the biggest problems with fighting realistic generative AI being used to spread misinformation is that many people refuse to believe it's fake, especially when this content conforms to their beliefs and values.

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Microsoft issues warning on China's use of generative AI to disrupt US elections

 

[OortCloud]

China. like Russia, continues to try and drag other down to its level where an authoritarian dictator is willing to do anything to remain in power, brutalising his people and running over his students with tanks.

 

[umeng2002]

So it's bad when they create propaganda, but totally fine when the US government does the same thing?

FYI, other than in certain business endeavors or to the government, lying is protected by the 1st Amendment, backed by a number of US Supreme Court cases.

 

[MyIOnU]

Maybe American corporations like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc ... should do the same. Stay out of Election and don't spread propaganda for their own agenda.

 

[OortCloud]

So it's bad when they create propaganda, but totally fine when the US government does the same thing?

Given there are no real elections in China it doesn't compare, but I expect you are part of some ludicrous Chinese misinformation farm paid to talk bollox and spread nonsense so I can argue until I'm blue in the face with you and it would be wasting my time. Your mother must be proud.

 

[ragreeen2646]

I'm sorry. Generative AI is a dangerous technology.

 

[maxxcool7421]

Ok if your going after China you also need to go after the republikans

 

[hk2000]

Who cares? Those who make their decision based on social media fakes are just as likely to believe the crap spewed by the politicians and their campaigns! Totally free, fair and democratic election is a myth!

 

[umeng2002]

Given there are no real elections in China it doesn't compare, but I expect you are part of some ludicrous Chinese misinformation farm paid to talk bollox and spread nonsense so I can argue until I'm blue in the face with you and it would be wasting my time. Your mother must be proud.

Is misinformation in the room with you right now? As I pointed out lying or propaganda is usually legal. A bunch of people creating FUD about something has happened since humans could talk. The government is the arbiter of truth.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I mean this should surprise no one. No point in focusing on China/Russia either, us American's are more than capable of tearing our own country to shreds.

We weren't ready for the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, we weren't ready for the rise of social media, and we sure as **** aren't ready for AI.

Whatever semblance of a shared reality we all operate on right now (although even that hangs in the balance) is about to go right out the god damn window.

I wish everyone could just look outside their window. Is the sun shining? Are birds chirping? Are people going about their business peacefully? Chill out, take a breath, and start looking for actual first hand sources as much as possible.

 

[Ashford]

Given there are no real elections in China it doesn't compare, but I expect you are part of some ludicrous Chinese misinformation farm paid to talk bollox and spread nonsense so I can argue until I'm blue in the face with you and it would be wasting my time. Your mother must be proud.

I thought the same thing when I read that post. I suspect monitoring certain high traffic channels and responding to anything negative about China with AI generated "china aint so bad" or "whaddaboutUSA" responses to exploit the dim among us is actually a solid propaganda strategy that tracks with the CCP as it actually capitalizes on the desire to stand out and be contrarian or edgy.

Those with any common sense, historical context, or even 1 minute to think critically know that you have far more freedom and a better life in the west than many in China will ever experience.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

What else with China. Developing technology especially in AI makes every Country a villain depending which side you stand on.

 

[Inthenstus]

Given there are no real elections in China it doesn't compare, but I expect you are part of some ludicrous Chinese misinformation farm paid to talk bollox and spread nonsense so I can argue until I'm blue in the face with you and it would be wasting my time. Your mother must be proud.

He isn’t wrong though, the US spreads SO much propaganda in our own country and abroad. The CIA is an evil organization.

 

[daffy duck]

So it's bad when they create propaganda, but totally fine when the US government does the same thing?

FYI, other than in certain business endeavors or to the government, lying is protected by the 1st Amendment, backed by a number of US Supreme Court cases.

If only the US could use AI to interfere in Chinese democratic elections. LOL

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Man. Maybe we should teach voters critical thinking... Naw.

 

[umeng2002]

If only the US could use AI to interfere in Chinese democratic elections. LOL

They never needed AI before in countless countries around the world to interfere with elections.

 

[toooooot]

China. like Russia, continues to try and drag other down to its level where an authoritarian dictator is willing to do anything to remain in power, brutalising his people and running over his students with tanks.

Well, looking at Putin lately, pretty much toying with the possibility of the next big war, easily threatening to use nukes, I would say Russia looks so much worse now. Surely, if China with all of its might behave exactly the same, it would be the number 1 problem for the civilized world. But yeah, right now Russia seems much worse to me, just because of one crazy man who himself said that if he spent more than one term as a president, he would go crazy. There is no limit to what a crazy person can do, and he got all the power and obedient slaves.
A crazy dictator with nukes and very obedient slaves, seems like a very unpredictable combo. China seems safer right now. Although, who could say limitless power would not do the same with Xi, right?

 

[BbN48]

Russia and China, rivals of the US, are very eager to see Trump elected.

Maga hat wearers: We will oblige!

Not that Biden is a good candidate either. Almost like this two party system sets you up to fail either way, while enriching the 0.1%.

 

[m3tavision]

Is misinformation in the room with you right now? As I pointed out lying or propaganda is usually legal. A bunch of people creating FUD about something has happened since humans could talk. The government is the arbiter of truth.

We are talking about a foreign entity, not "people".

US Citizens have the right to say whatever they want, all others (within our soil) are considered foreign interference, or election interference. And colluding with a foreign entity is a big No NO and Treason is the bedrock of the Constitution for throwing those Citizens who thwart the US Constitution, and "people" can be stripped of their Citizenry, or depending on the collusion, death.

American Society is Patriotic. It is why you never go against another American, or circumvent the US constitution for gain... It's suicide..!


So, umeng, Your passive argument(s) & FUD comments were "seen-through" as your subversion, & are hilarious defense to the argument.

OortCloud sniffed you out perfectly. I think the term is Wumao.

 

[atomicgirl]

I mean this should surprise no one. No point in focusing on China/Russia either, us American's are more than capable of tearing our own country to shreds.

We weren't ready for the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, we weren't ready for the rise of social media, and we sure as **** aren't ready for AI.

I disagree.

The reason why our media went to crap after the Fairness Doctrine was Rupert Murdoch, an Australian national, who started buying out newspapers and media outlets across the country, as well as established FOX News to reinvent American politics, just as he did in the UK. If there hadn't been a Rupert Murdoch, our media and politics would be sounding a lot differently than it is today. Yes, we'd still have the crackpots and cranks like Ann Coulter but they would've been outliers, not absorbed into the mainstream.

Our social media went to crap as soon as it became "globalized" by Mark Zuckerberg. I remember the days before Facebook, when precursors to social media (MySpace, Live Journal, etc.) were 100% local. He, Jack Dorsey and all of these other "whiz kids" that created Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other mega-platforms took American forums, spaces and platforms and opened the field to anyone and everyone so we'd be exposed to trolls and disinfo campaigns. So, we were ready for the rise of social media. We just didn't expect that our own people would use this platform to sell us out.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I disagree.

The reason why our media went to crap after the Fairness Doctrine was Rupert Murdoch, an Australian national, who started buying out newspapers and media outlets across the country, as well as established FOX News to reinvent American politics, just as he did in the UK. If there hadn't been a Rupert Murdoch, our media and politics would be sounding a lot differently than it is today. Yes, we'd still have the crackpots and cranks like Ann Coulter but they would've been outliers, not absorbed into the mainstream.

Our social media went to crap as soon as it became "globalized" by Mark Zuckerberg. I remember the days before Facebook, when precursors to social media (MySpace, Live Journal, etc.) were 100% local. He, Jack Dorsey and all of these other "whiz kids" that created Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other mega-platforms took American forums, spaces and platforms and opened the field to anyone and everyone so we'd be exposed to trolls and disinfo campaigns. So, we were ready for the rise of social media. We just didn't expect that our own people would use this platform to sell us out.

-I don't see how that's a disagreement or even rebuttal of anything I said. We weren't ready for the kinds of changes that were coming at us.

I suppose you mean that "we're capable of tearing ourselves apart" comment. The fairness doctrine worked because it established a detante between whackjob right wing AM radio and mainstream "liberal" news outlets.

The left used the Fairness Doctrine to suppress RWNJs on rural AM radio waves, the Right used the FD to suppress ABC/CBS/NBC and other nationally televised broadcasts. It kept everyone in a nice narrow lane of having to discuss actual facts and policy rather than the personalities and the politicians directly.

When that went away, AM radio kooks sprung up all over the place and **** like CNN (and FOX) came roaring into existence.

They all push a sort of parasocial agenda about politician saviors and salacious mudslinging, and have strayed so far from actual policy discussion that I doubt most Americans even know anything about what the actual platforms and policies are of the major parties.

 

[Uncle Al]

Until we take a hard stance against this kind of abuse it is just an encouragement for it to continue and magnify. Start shutting these countries off access via internet and the message becomes clear and if not, they are isolated from the rest of the world. All this time and not being able to do such is a strike against those and develop and maintain the internet.

 

[atomicgirl]

-I don't see how that's a disagreement or even rebuttal of anything I said. We weren't ready for the kinds of changes that were coming at us.

I suppose you mean that "we're capable of tearing ourselves apart" comment. The fairness doctrine worked because it established a detante between whackjob right wing AM radio and mainstream "liberal" news outlets.

The left used the Fairness Doctrine to suppress RWNJs on rural AM radio waves, the Right used the FD to suppress ABC/CBS/NBC and other nationally televised broadcasts. It kept everyone in a nice narrow lane of having to discuss actual facts and policy rather than the personalities and the politicians directly.

I understand what you are saying, and don't dispute that this happened. I saw this myself with the rise of guys like Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, etc. and networks like Air America in the 1990s.

What I took exception to was the implication that this is all that we did to ourselves. Maybe we did it to ourselves, but we had lots of help from the outside, as it was Rupert Murdoch that shaped the direction of our political discourse.

To put it another way, maybe the American Left and American Right set out to exploit the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine to skew things in their favor. But would they be "tearing the country apart" were it not for Murdoch? Would they have become as extreme as they did?

To give some context, in the 1980s, there was an infamous rape case involving a jogger who was attacked in Central Park, NYC. The NY Post, which Murdoch owned, laid the foundation of a lot of the incendiary Rightwing rhetoric that now defines American politics and "fake news". Had it not been for that story, the NY Post's handling of it and later FOX News, the American Right would never sound or act like it does today, especially in terms of casting doubt about our political system or applauding insurrection. It would sound more like Pat Buchanan, Ben Stein or George F. Will, not Trump or all these other kooks like Marjorie-Taylor Greene.

 

[atomicgirl]

Until we take a hard stance against this kind of abuse it is just an encouragement for it to continue and magnify. Start shutting these countries off access via internet and the message becomes clear and if not, they are isolated from the rest of the world. All this time and not being able to do such is a strike against those and develop and maintain the internet.

Shutting off access to isolate countries won't work because that would be turned as a weapon against the US, with cries from those very places raging about "censorship" and accusations of the US government becoming Fascist.

However, there is something that can be done. What the US needs to do and should've done a long time ago was clamp down on all these huge social media sites that globalized American spaces. If Meta, Google, Bing and others didn't structure their platforms to force Americans to share their spaces with everyone, there would be no election interference because there'd be no channel for anyone to target them with. But the US just allows them to do this while other countries have natural defenses, like talking in their native language or using geo-specific domains that tend to put Americans off. (How many Americans seek out .co.uk, .au domains or use Weibo?)

 

[veLa]

So it's bad when they create propaganda, but totally fine when the US government does the same thing?

Literally no one here is defending propaganda, bro.