Microsoft Warns That China Wants To Use AI To Disrupt Elections; But Basically Ignores Its Failures To Disrupt The Taiwanese Election
from the let's-not-get-ahead-of-ourselves dept
I’m not sure we should welcome in our new AI-powered robot overlords determining how elections come about just yet.
The media keeps telling me that deep fakes and generative AI are going to throw all of the important elections this year into upheaval. And maybe it’s true, but to date, we’ve seen very little evidence to support anything serious. There are a lot of questions this year about the impact that generative AI tools will have on elections, but the predictions of the power of these tools still remain greatly exaggerated.
The latest is the Guardian reporting that China is looking to use AI to “disrupt elections in the US, South Korea, and India” based on warnings from Microsoft:
China will attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft has warned.
The US tech firm said it expected Chinese state-backed cyber groups to target high-profile elections in 2024, with North Korea also involved, according to a report by the company’s threat intelligence team published on Friday.
“As populations in India, South Korea and the United States head to the polls, we are likely to see Chinese cyber and influence actors, and to some extent North Korean cyber actors, work toward targeting these elections,” the report reads.
Microsoft said that “at a minimum” China will create and distribute through social media AI-generated content that “benefits their positions in these high-profile elections”.
And, I mean, anything’s possible, and it’s certainly good for companies and individuals alike to be on the lookout, but remember, one of the most important elections for China already happened earlier this year. The election in Taiwan. And it didn’t turn out the way that China wanted. At all.
That doesn’t mean China won’t continue to try to interfere in foreign elections, because of course it will. But it should, at the very least, lead to questions about just how effective these kinds of campaigns to manipulate elections can be.
I mean, part of Microsoft’s announcement was that China tried to use AI to influence the Taiwanese election, and it didn’t seem to have much of an impact.
Microsoft said in the report that China had already attempted an AI-generated disinformation campaign in the Taiwan presidential election in January. The company said this was the first time it had seen a state-backed entity using AI-made content in a bid to influence a foreign election.
A Beijing-backed group called Storm 1376, also known as Spamouflage or Dragonbridge, was highly active during the Taiwanese election. Its attempts to influence the election included posting fake audio on YouTube of the election candidate Terry Gou – who had bowed out in November – endorsing another candidate. Microsoft said the clip was “likely AI generated”. YouTube removed the content before it reached many users.
The Beijing-backed group pushed a series of AI-generated memes about the ultimately successful candidate, William Lai – a pro-sovereignty candidate opposed by Beijing – that levelled baseless claims against Lai accusing him of embezzling state funds. There was also an increased use of AI-generated TV news anchors, a tactic that has also been used by Iran, with the “anchor” making unsubstantiated claims about Lai’s private life including fathering illegitimate children.
Looking at Microsoft’s actual announcement, there’s surprisingly little discussion of why the attempts in Taiwan failed. It certainly talks about increased efforts, but not the rate of success.
There’s no reason not to be careful and to be thinking about these threats. But it seems like a much more interesting bit of research would have been to look at why this was so ineffective in the Taiwanese election, and if there were lessons to learn from that, rather than just hyping up the fear, uncertainty, and doubt about future elections.
Of course, if you’re still super worried, well, we’ve got a great brainstorming tool to check out…
Filed Under: ai, china, democracy, election manipulation, elections, south korea, us
Companies: microsoft
Comments on “Microsoft Warns That China Wants To Use AI To Disrupt Elections; But Basically Ignores Its Failures To Disrupt The Taiwanese Election”
Is the average Taiwanese person as stupid as the average American?
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That’s a mighty low bar you’re setting.
But it’s also a mighty misleading one, too. The average American will, by definition, have average intelligence. What they may well be lacking is training in logic, and training in assessing apparent authorities.
Then again, the people who make the news – the people who clearly hold self-contradictory views, those who hold to long-debunked beliefs – those are rare, and entertaining, and so presented by “news” venues specifically to keep your eyeballs. They aren’t a majority. And even some of them may be performing for the clicks, rather than actually believing the rhetoric.
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There is a widespread culture of ignorance in the US that goes far beyond any “rare” occurrences you might have in mind.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
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aren’t you the one that advocated for actual violence and called me andrea for no reason
Re: Re: Re:2
You got the second part right. The first part is a figment of your imagination.
Re: Re: Re:3
buddy your paranoid as shit if you still think am andrea
Re: Re: Re:2
The third part is also wrong. The reason is that your poor English and poor critical thinking skills suggest you are andrea.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
Re: Re: Re:3
imagine deflecting every time i tell the truth even stone told the truth and you still deflect so hard that you will never admit it
Re: Re: Re:4
Not deflecting shit. Stone’s words still don’t constitute evidence of my words.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
Re: Re: Re:5
still deflecting dude
Re: Re: Re:5
and yet you keep flagging comments thst tell the truth wow
Re: Re:
The average American is taller than the average Chinese person. Just because they are both, by definition, “average,” doesn’t make them equal.
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You mean averages can be compared against one another? Who else knows about this?
Re: Re: Re:2
Well the comment I replied to apparently doesn’t, since they think it’s “misleading” to do so.
But thanks for your input, such as it were.
Re: Re: Re:3
“Not that other guy” also would have been an acceptable answer.
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What the average American may well be lacking is training in logic and good sense.
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The average Taiwanese is just more vigilant and aware of the bloodthirsty nature of the Xi Dynasty.
The Taiwanese media is just as reactionary, fear-mongering and profit-seeking as any media conglomerate. Because three guesses who they learnt it from.
Shooting fish in a barrel
Given the US has an entire political party based upon delusions and ‘alternative facts’ even if China faceplanted trying to manipulate Taiwanese elections I suspect they might have an easier time with the same tricks in the US, so it’s definitely something to keep an eye out for.
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Yeah, but preaching to the choir doesn’t really change anything. It just gives the choir awful new songs to sing.
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Re: Re:
We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children.
That’s one of their newer songs
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ok troll flag that users queerphobic comment
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
Re: Re: Re:2
I do not have an irrational fear of queers
I do not want to put bans on any trans
I just think it is wild to want to do to a child
Re: Re: Re:3
that’s still queerphobic you could have said priests in churches you would have been right
Re: Re: Re:4
Power corrupts. Anything new to add?
Re: Re: Re:3
A person of 18 years old (minimum age for transition surgery) is an adult, not a child, shit for brains transphobe.
Re: Re: Re:2
Name calling. So you admit defeat.
Re: Re: Re:3
am not the one that got there queerphobic comment hidden troll clown 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
Re: Re: Re:4
They admit defeat as well.
Re: Re: Re:5
me defeated bro that’s pathetic after getting your comment hidden that am defeated somehow?
Re: Re: Re:6
Name calling is last resort after you have lost and have no argument.
Every accusation a confession
Re: Re: Re:7
buddy what are your trying to defend this queerphobic troll cuase it sounds like you are
Re: Re: Re:6
The bar to trigger is obviously set very low.
A comment being hidden doesn’t make you right, it is just a safe space for everyone to only see what they agree with.
Delicate snowflakes must not see anything they disagree with.
Re: Re: Re:7
said the clown troll
Re: Re: Re:8
Don’t be trying to claim mine as yours
Re: Re: Re:9
so advocating for political violence and now spreading queer phobic crap any more you do?
Re: Re: Re:10
“said the clown troll”
You’re trying to claim my statement as yours. I said it, not you clown troll
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FTFY. YW.
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China will “outsource” any and all US-based psyops to Russia.
After all, the Russians have the Republicans in their thrall…
There should be a lot more to look at now, since South Korea’s elections were this week (after both the Microsoft post and the Guardian story).
People believe current AI is actual AI, showcasing the general ignorance going around.
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Or, as I like to say, “AI: All A. Very little, if any, I.”
This seems appropriately caveated, to me? It’s saying it will try, not that it will be effective. It’s not making any predictions on how powerful it is. And ancedotally, most media coverage I’ve seen is similar- yes, the potential impact is being hyped, but generally outlets have been careful to caveat whether it will be effective. It’s been… surprisingly responsible?
While everyone pays attention to the obvious spam tactics, China goes in with even more sophisticated methods they lifted from either how the US does/did things, the CIA Playbook, or learning from their latest puppets, the Russians.
They’re backing everyone in the current Myanmar Civil War. They funded Duterte and his political dynasties via “Chinese businessmen” in the Philippines. They’re also engaging in sophisticated disinfo campaigns via Whatsapp/Telegram, seizing on major fuckups (Adrian Zenz is what I’m referring to here) and doing the usual geopolitical bullshit as well (blackmail, trade deals, military showmanship to name the very obvious).
This is not to say to disregard the obvious spam tactics, but at least recognize it for what it is: political spam. And acknowledge the real hero: constant, eternal vigilance against the powers that seek to harm democracy.