Microsoft warns of AI imagery from China aiming to influence US voters

[midian182]

What just happened? Microsoft has warned that Chinese operatives have been using artificial intelligence to generate images with the aim of spreading disinformation and influencing US voters ahead of the 2024 election. The content focuses on politically divisive topics, including gun violence, and denigrating US political figures and symbols.

Analysts from Microsoft Threat Analysis Center highlighted the campaign in a report titled 'Digital threats from East Asia increase in breadth and effectiveness.'

The use of AI to generate the images means that the material being produced is "more eye-catching content than the awkward digital drawings and stock photo collages used in previous campaigns," which helps increase user engagement.

These sorts of generated images often come with tell-tale signs that they've been created by an AI, but they're still fooling plenty of people. One example is an image of the Statue of Liberty, complete with the caption "The Goddess of Violence," with more than five fingers on one hand. There's also a poster depicting the Black Lives Matter movement in which a Black man is surrendering while surrounded by bullet holes.

The images were uploaded to "Western" social media accounts affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party and then reposted by others.

Microsoft writes that hours after the Black Lives Matter poster was uploaded, an account impersonating a conservative US voter reposted the image, complaining about racial discrimination under President Biden.

"Unlike earlier IO campaigns from CCP-affiliated actors that used easy-to-spot computer-generated handles, display names, and profile pictures, these more sophisticated accounts are operated by real people who employ fictitious or stolen identities to conceal the accounts' affiliation with the CCP," the researchers wrote.

Another strategy being successfully used by China is its "multilingual internet celebrity studios," which involves more than 230 state media employees and affiliates masquerading as independent social media influencers across all major Western social media platforms. They have a combined following of at least 103 million across multiple platforms speaking at least 40 languages, spreading Chinese Communist Party propaganda around the world.

Microsoft also warned that North Korea is continuing its cyberattacks and intrusions. The country is gathering intelligence on South Korea, the US, and Japan, "targeting the maritime and shipbuilding sectors, suggesting this as a high-priority area for the North Korean government," writes Microsoft. It has also targeted the Russian government and defense industry, despite expressing support for Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

It was only last week when Meta said it had taken down thousands of fake accounts that were part of a massive disinformation campaign linked to Chinese law enforcement. While the deleted accounts were on Facebook and Instagram, the network is also present on non-Meta platforms including Reddit and YouTube, spreading positive posts about China and negative comments about the US.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100082-microsoft-warns-ai-imagery-china-aiming-influence-us.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Once again we have a perfectly good example why non-communist countries should consider cutting off internet interaction with China, Russia, N. Korea, etc, etc. There have been few benefits from these associations and a great deal of negative's.

 

[kinetix]

Once again we have a perfectly good example why non-communist countries should consider cutting off internet interaction with China, Russia, N. Korea, etc, etc. There have been few benefits from these associations and a great deal of negative's.

Well, in my life I have seen more examples/cases for most of the world cuts off the Internet interactions with the US and some of its minions than the other way around. So...

 

[nulll]

Well, in my life I have seen more examples/cases for most of the world cuts off the Internet interactions with the US and some of its minions than the other way around. So...

By volume of affected individuals that is certainly the case as that was and continues to be the actual purpose of the the great firewall of China. The solution remains the same now as it has always been. Empower the consumer to parse and collate the data they're exposed to as opposed to just trying to block it all as that is wildly resource intensive, ineffective and detrimental to any state that deploys it.

Collaboration and commerce as opposed to IP theft and industrial backstabbing, hilariously naïve but so far it's kinda all we've got as a counter.

 

[Nobina]

It's always the same story. There is no close second to the West when it comes to propaganda and influencing people from other countries.

 

[netman]

Microsoft is US government's vassal...!

 

[James Ryan]

Once again we have a perfectly good example why non-communist countries should consider cutting off internet interaction with China, Russia, N. Korea, etc, etc. There have been few benefits from these associations and a great deal of negative's.

They'll just move the ops locally.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

As we all know, multi trillion dollar american corporations would NEVER try to use their monopoly positions to influence US voters or use any excuse to clamp down on what you see online to make even more money. Nope.

 

[Black Paper]

China derangement syndrome. Next they'll say hearing spoken mandarin will cause Havana syndrome.

 

[Black Paper]

Once again we have a perfectly good example why non-communist countries should consider cutting off internet interaction with China, Russia, N. Korea, etc, etc. There have been few benefits from these associations and a great deal of negative's.

1.) Russia hasn't been communist since 1991 before the illegal dissolvement of the USSR (thanks Gorb).

2.) Those "few benefits" include China's Four Decades of Journey: Lifting 770 Million People Out of Poverty. After four decades of policy implementations and effective governance, China declared itself successful in lifting 770 million of its citizens out of poverty. It's the essential stat that's included in every 'lowering global poverty' figure that western nations co-opt.

3.) This is the most paper thin propaganda by Microsoft to rile the masses, reads like a Johnny Harris essay, while acting as a stenographer of the state department (CIA).

4.) China, the USA's largest trading partner is single-handedly keeping the American economy afloat. The phone you use, the parts in your computer, the appliances in your home, the shelves of most the products in Walmart were all made in China. It takes 2 to 5 years to spin up new factories to even compete, so if you expect everyone to sit on their hands for months on end as the economy stagnates, be my guest; it's a fools errand.

Wake me when a non-formerly communist country is actually to take care of their populations like being able to house over 90% of it's population without price gouging, build cross-national high-speed rail, and not have 25% of the world's prison population.

 

[nulll]

1.) Russia hasn't been communist since 1991 before the illegal dissolvement of the USSR (thanks Gorb).

2.) Those "few benefits" include China's Four Decades of Journey: Lifting 770 Million People Out of Poverty. After four decades of policy implementations and effective governance, China declared itself successful in lifting 770 million of its citizens out of poverty. It's the essential stat that's included in every 'lowering global poverty' figure that western nations co-opt.

3.) This is the most paper thin propaganda by Microsoft to rile the masses, reads like a Johnny Harris essay, while acting as a stenographer of the state department (CIA).

4.) China, the USA's largest trading partner is single-handedly keeping the American economy afloat. The phone you use, the parts in your computer, the appliances in your home, the shelves of most the products in Walmart were all made in China. It takes 2 to 5 years to spin up new factories to even compete, so if you expect everyone to sit on their hands for months on end as the economy stagnates, be my guest; it's a fools errand.

Wake me when a non-formerly communist country is actually to take care of their populations like being able to house over 90% of it's population without price gouging, build cross-national high-speed rail, and not have 25% of the world's prison population.

So let us clarify this a little bit with provable facts shall we;

1. The USSR had been dissolving by degrees since the 60's when it became clear that the dream was a lie and they needed troops to start putting out internal fires, this only got more intense as the decades and incompetence escalated. The final straw was a combination of the disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan coinciding with the fallout of Chernobyl... Um Gorbachev just happened to be the warm butt in the seat when the unmitigated Soviet disaster was finally put to bed.

Soviet Union timeline

A chronology of key events in the history of the Soviet Union

www.bbc.com

2. Lacking the context of the "Great leap forward" (not reading for the faint of heart, though it should be required reading in every University) the suggestion of China lifting its own citizens up is absurd. China via two different US administrations began opening to the west in the 70's and continued this way for decades. This could not have happened without existing successful Western societies to enable it. There have been endless academic papers published regarding exactly this topic, China needed the west and became more western as part of the exchange. It very much benefitted both systems and that was by design. Western blue collar workers saw 40 years of wage stagnation as the cost for the uplift of the average Chinese peasant farmer, there have been wildly worse bargains struck in our species history.

3. Agree heartily, the piece in Lady Liberties hand appears to be based on an H&K GR.36, no self respecting American should tolerate the suggestion that Lady Liberty would hoist anything but the most Gucci of AR chassis rifles in anger!

https://assets.shephardmedia.com/live/default/media/cache/images/images/article/HK-G36/efe6b66b99f2d22f13693fb805cdcca0.jpg

4. That is effectively perfectly inverted from reality as the spin-up of on shore factories creates jobs, the restructuring of transport and supply chains creates jobs and in the end the majority of the manufacturing has now moved out of China while creating a labor boon not seen in the west in several generations while shortening the notoriously long neck of supply chains. There are also hundreds of ancillary positions in everything from logistics to regulation that are also bolstered in the west as a result of this so the wins are nearly incalculable.

All Western countries have their issues which are rounding errors compared to anything done in communist countries during the twentieth century, see above the "Great leap forward". Anyone pontificating the benefits of twentieth century Chinese communism at this late hour has simply avoided doing any of the reading whatsoever, equally so for the Soviet system. Both of these systems are already being taught to younger generations as an object lesson in what not to do when structuring a society.

Extremely unfortunately all of us will have to watch over the next decade as the inevitable demographic collapse of the Chinese system leads to the harshest de-industrialization in our species history. No one wins in this story but the one child policy meant this was always going to happen, Chinese labor costs are now higher than Mexico and that's only getting worse. With any luck upcoming technological advancements in robotization and AI will enable a second green revolution curtailing the worst features of the Chinese decline.

The memes regarding mainland China being West Taiwan might not be memes by the mid 2030's at this rate, and considering the difference in affectation of governance that might just be the best possible outcome for Chinese culture and society.

https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.2501193868.3699/bg,f8f8f8-flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.jpg

 

[Impudicus]

How is this any different from any other campaign advertisement I've ever seen? Every single one of them is trying to influence us.