Russia is generating more AI content than any other country to influence the impending US presidential election.
That’s according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), who said that the Kremlin is exerting its efforts to impact the election in former President Donald Trump’s favor at the cost of Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.
How is Russia doing this? By using generative AI technology, it is possible to create social media profiles, deepfakes, and chatbot tools that spread misinformation about the candidates.
“Consistent With Russia’s Broader Efforts”
The report comes from Reuters, who took a briefing from an anonymous official in the ODNI.
Addressing the use of AI content by other powers in influencing the November election, they alleged that Russia was the most prolific user of the technology for that purpose.
They said that the use of AI in this context would be consistent with Russia’s wider activity to affect the pursuit of democracy in the US and its “efforts to boost the former president’s candidacy and denigrate the vice president and the Democratic Party, including through conspiratorial narratives.”
This just in! View
the top business tech deals for 2024 👨💻
Reuters said that it had reached out to the Russian embassy in Washington for a response to the allegations but had not received a reply.
Sophisticated and Targeted Actions
Not only is Russia the most active user of AI for these statecraft purposes, according to the ODNI, but it’s also the most sophisticated. That’s thanks to its better understanding of how presidential elections work in the US.
The intelligence official gave Reuters’ reporters examples of Russia’s attempts to influence this year’s proceedings, using AI-enhanced social media accounts to disseminate pro-Kremlin messages.
They also described non-AI techniques to spread misinformation, such as staging a false video featuring a woman claiming she was hit by a car that Kamala Harris was driving.
Attempts are being made by social media companies to stymie the proliferation of this kind of misinformation, with TikTok following Facebook and Instagram in banning deceptive Russian media accounts.
And while Russia appears to be the greatest concern to US intelligence agencies in the run up to the vote, the ODNI official also mentioned China and Iran as countries who were increasing their use of AI to influence international affairs.
AI and the Election
With Donald Trump saying that he will be the first “crypto president” of the United States, AI has frequently been part of the news cycle in relation to the race to the White House between him and Harris.
Billionaire owner of X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk landed in hot water when he shared a deepfake of Kamala Harris describing herself as a deep state puppet.
The platform eventually bowed to pressure from five Secretaries of State to add an election warning to its Grok chatbot after it was found giving incorrect information to queries about ballot deadlines.
And OpenAI’s ChatGPT began sending users to CanIVote.Org when they asked questions about the election, before deciding to stop answering election questions altogether after it was found to be providing substantially incorrect responses.
