China would attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft Corp has said.
The US tech firm expects Chinese state-backed cybergroups to target high-profile elections this year, with North Korea also involved, a report published on Friday by the company’s threat intelligence team showed.
“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 cyberactors, work toward targeting these elections,” the report reads.
Photo: Reuters
“At a minimum,” China would create and distribute through social media AI-generated content that “benefits their positions in these high-profile elections,” Microsoft said.
The company added that the impact of AI-made content was minor, but warned that could change.
“While the impact of such content in swaying audiences remains low, China’s increasing experimentation in augmenting memes, videos and audio will continue — and may prove effective down the line,” Microsoft said.
China had already attempted an AI-generated disinformation campaign in the Taiwanese presidential and legislative elections in January, the report said.
That was the first time it had seen a state-backed entity using AI-made content in a bid to influence a foreign election, it added.
A Beijing-backed group called Storm 1376, also known as Spamouflage or Dragonbridge, was highly active during the Taiwanese election, the report said.
Its attempts to influence the outcome included posting fake audio on YouTube of presidential candidate Terry Gou (郭台銘) — the Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder who bowed out in November last year — endorsing another candidate, it said.
That clip was “likely AI generated,” Microsoft said.
YouTube removed the content before it reached many users.
The Beijing-backed group pushed a series of AI-generated memes about now-president-elect William Lai — a pro-sovereignty candidate opposed by Beijing — that leveled baseless claims against the vice president 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 an “anchor” making unsubstantiated claims about Lai’s private life including fathering illegitimate children, the report said.
The news anchors were created by the CapCut tool, developed by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動), the owner of TikTok, Microsoft said.
Chinese groups continue to mount influence campaigns in the US, with Beijing-backed actors using social media accounts to pose “divisive questions” and attempt to understand issues dividing US voters, it said.
“This could be to gather intelligence and precision on key voting demographics ahead of the US presidential election,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post accompanying the report.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
RSS