|
A
Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington said that accusations
of China using AI to create fake social media accounts were
"full of prejudice and malicious speculation" and that China
advocates for the safe use of AI.
In a new research report, Microsoft said the social media
accounts were part of a suspected Chinese information operation.
The campaign bore similarities to activity which the U.S.
Department of Justice has attributed to "an elite group within
(China's) Ministry of Public Security," Microsoft said.
The researchers did not specify which social media platforms
were affected, but screenshots in their report showed posts from
what appeared to be Facebook and Twitter, now known as X.
The report highlights a fraught social media environment as
Americans prepare for the 2024 presidential election.
The U.S. government has accused Russia of meddling in the 2016
election with a covert social media campaign and has warned of
subsequent efforts by China, Russia and Iran to influence
voters.
The report provided limited examples of the recent activity and
did not explain in detail how researchers attributed the posts
to China.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters that the company's
researcher used a "multifaceted attribution model," which relies
on "technical evidence, behavioral evidence and contextual
evidence."
The campaign began using generative artificial intelligence
technology in about March 2023 to create politically charged
content in English and "mimic U.S. voters," Microsoft said.
Generative AI can create images, text and other media from
scratch.
The new content is much more "eye-catching than the awkward
visuals used in previous campaigns by Chinese nation-state
actors, which relied on digital drawings, stock photo collages,
and other manual graphic designs," the researchers wrote.
The paper cited an example of one AI-generated image, which
Microsoft said came from a Chinese account, that depicts the
Statue of Liberty holding an assault rifle with the caption:
"Everything is being thrown away. THE GODDESS OF VIOLENCE."
The Microsoft spokesperson said the identified accounts had
attempted to appear American by listing their public location as
within the United States, posting American political slogans,
and sharing hashtags relating to domestic political issues.
(Reporting by Christopher Bing; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and
Edmund Klamann)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
