India (Commonwealth Union)_ Microsoft has issued a cautionary alert regarding China’s strategic intent to disrupt impending elections in India, the United States, and South Korea through the application of artificial intelligent-generated content. This warning follows China’s trial run during Taiwan’s presidential election, where artificial intelligence was utilized to exert influence over the election outcome. In a recent meeting in New Delhi, Microsoft’s co-founder, Bill Gates, engaged with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in discussions concerning the potential applications of AI for societal advancement, particularly focusing on initiatives such as women-led development and innovations in health and agriculture.
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Globally, at least 64 nations, along with the European Union, are gearing up for national elections, encompassing nearly half of the global populace. Accordingly, Microsoft’s threat intelligence team asserts that Chinese state-affiliated cyber groups, potentially with collaboration from North Korea, are poised to target numerous elections scheduled for 2024. The corporation suggests that China may employ AI-generated content through social media platforms to manipulate public opinion in alignment with their interests during these electoral processes.
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According to the official statement from Microsoft, in light of the significant elections occurring worldwide this year, notably in India, South Korea, and the United States, it is anticipated that China will, at the very least, fabricate and amplify AI-generated content to support its objectives. The official statement from Microsoft is as follows: “With major elections taking place around the world this year, particularly in India, South Korea and the United States, we assess that China will, at a minimum, create and amplify AI-generated content to benefit its interests”.
The looming threat of political advertisements leveraging AI to fabricate deceptive and false narratives, including the production of “deepfakes” or the creation of fictional events, poses a considerable threat in this crucial election year. Such content intends to deceive the electorate regarding candidates’ positions on various issues, their statements, and even the legitimacy of certain occurrences. If left unnoticed, these manipulative endeavors have the potential to erode voters’ capacity to make well-informed choices.
According to Microsoft, the immediate impact of AI-generated content may appear relatively limited, but China’s escalating experimentation with this technology could gradually become more threatening over time. Additionally, the tech conglomerate also highlighted China’s prior endeavor to influence Taiwan’s election by spreading AI-generated disinformation, marking the first instance of a state-backed entity employing such tactics in a foreign electoral process. According to the report, during the Taiwanese election, a group supported by Beijing, known as Storm 1376 or Spamouflage, was notably active. This group disseminated AI-generated content, such as fabricated audio endorsements and memes, with the intention of dishonoring specific candidates and manipulating voter perceptions. Notably, Iran has also employed a similar tactic through AI-generated TV news anchors.
According to the report, Storm-1376 has propagated a series of AI-generated memes targeting Taiwan’s then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai, along with other Taiwanese officials and Chinese dissidents globally. This includes a growing utilization of AI-generated TV news anchors deployed by Storm-1376 since at least February 2023. According to the analysis conducted by Microsoft Threat Intelligence, Chinese state-affiliated cyber groups, with potential backing from North Korea, are also likely to target elections in the United States and South Korea. Further, the report underscores that a Chinese cyber actor, Flax Typhoon, known for frequent assaults on the telecommunications sector, targeted India, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and the United States in 2023. In February, a hacker group linked to the Chinese state purportedly targeted top governmental offices in India, including the Prime Minister’s Office and prominent businesses like Reliance and Air India.
Accordingly, a probe disclosed that these hackers had breached 95.2 gigabytes of immigration data from the Indian government, subsequently posting the leaked files on GitHub. In another recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates delved into discussions regarding the deployment of artificial intelligence and the growing threat posed by deepfake content produced through various AI tools. During the meeting, Prime Minister Modi remarked that in a large country like India, the potential for misinformation via deepfakes is considerable. He added that if someone disseminates a defamatory piece about anyone, people might believe it. According to Microsoft’s report, China had previously engaged in a disinformation campaign during Taiwan’s presidential election in January through the dissemination of AI-generated content.
Accordingly, with the United States also poised for elections by the end of this year, Chinese groups are exploiting social media platforms to spread divisive content to voters and gather intelligence on critical voting demographics, as outlined in the Microsoft report. In response to the AI threat, guidelines and procedures for quickly recognizing and reacting to incorrect and misleading material have previously been made available by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Additionally, the makers of ChatGPT, OpenAI, also had a discussion with ICI members last month and gave a presentation to the commission members detailing the steps taken to stop the exploitation of AI in the next elections.
