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Microsoft analysts reported that China uses AI-generated content to trick American voters ahead of the 2024 election. The tech company also says Chinese agents are getting better at doing this.
Concerns about election safety are arising as we get closer to the US 2024 presidential election. Back in 2016, Russia was accused of meddling in the election. Now, Chinese agents are reportedly trying to influence American public opinion with AI photos. Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt already predicted that the upcoming US election could become a “mess” due to AI.
According to the Microsoft analysts report, China and North Korea currently employ AI-generated content to target voters. The scope of their operation is said to be greater than anything already seen.
“We have observed China-affiliated actors leveraging AI-generated visual media in a broad campaign that largely focuses on politically divisive topics, such as gun violence, and denigrating US political figures and symbols,” Clint Watts, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center general manager, said.
China uses AI content to target US voters ahead of the 2024 election
The images spread by these agents mostly revolve around racial issues. For example, they reposted a Black Lives Matter poster showing bullet holes and a Black man surrendering.
Microsoft has warned the accounts that repost these photos. Chinese Communist Party agents mostly create these accounts and try to add fuel to the fire of racial issues in the United States. In one case, an account impersonating a conservative US voter reposted a Black Lives Matter poster complaining about racial discrimination.
Microsoft analysts warned that the AI-generated content by Chinese agents “has already drawn higher levels of engagement from authentic social media users.” Additionally, the new images are even more eye-catching, and US voters are reposting them despite knowing that AI generates them.
Analysts added that CCP-affiliated actors behind these accounts use fictitious or stolen identities to hide their affiliation with China. However, they’ve made some obvious mistakes, like posting in Mandarin and then switching to another language to conceal their main intention. The CCP-affiliated accounts also try to increase each other’s visibility by reposting content reciprocally.
As expected, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected the allegations, saying, “Such remarks are full of prejudice and malicious speculation against China, which China firmly opposes.”