Microsoft has issued a warning that China will attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea, and India this year using artificial intelligence-generated content after conducting a test run in Taiwan. The tech company’s threat intelligence team reported that Chinese state-backed cyber groups, possibly with involvement from North Korea, will target high-profile elections in the future.
According to Microsoft, China will create and distribute AI-generated content through social media to benefit their positions in these elections. Although the impact of such content is currently low, the company warns that it could be more effective in the future as China continues to experiment with AI-generated memes, videos, and audio.
In the Taiwan presidential election in January, a Beijing-backed group called Storm 1376 attempted to influence the outcome by posting fake content, including an AI-generated audio clip endorsing a candidate and AI-generated memes making baseless claims against the opposing candidate. Other tactics included the use of AI-generated TV news anchors to spread disinformation.
Microsoft also noted that Chinese groups are actively mounting influence campaigns in the US, using social media accounts to pose divisive questions aimed at understanding key voting demographics. These actions could be intended to gather intelligence ahead of the US Presidential election.
This warning comes in the wake of a report by a White House-appointed official review board, which identified errors by Microsoft that allowed state-backed Chinese cyber operators to breach the email accounts of senior US officials. The US and UK governments have previously accused China-backed hackers of conducting a cyber campaign targeting politicians, journalists, and businesses.
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