Chinese researchers are exploring ways to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT to manipulate global audiences, possibly including their perceptions of Taiwan, a RAND Corp study found.
The US-based think tank published the report The Rise of Generative AI and the Coming Era of Social Media Manipulation 3.0 on Thursday last week discussing potential threats to US national security posed by actors misusing generative AI technologies, with a focus on China.
Although no evidence has shown that Beijing is using AI to generate and publish content on social media, it is the consensus among independent researchers and a number of governments that the Chinese government is conducting social media manipulation, the report said.
Photo: Reuters
“AI offers the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] the potential to fulfill longstanding desires to shape the global conversation about itself and China more broadly,” the report said.
It cited studies that pointed to Beijing’s attempt to interfere in Taiwan’s 2018 presidential election through social media manipulation.
New tactics emerged afterward, including using content farms to produce numerous false or misleading content, buying established Taiwanese social media accounts and allegedly paying Taiwanese influencers to spread pro-Beijing narratives, it said.
These efforts might not have a significant influence on election results, but seem to be “worsening Taiwanese political and social polarization and widening perceived generational divides,” it said.
Utilizing AI might further improve the authenticity of China-produced content, as well as reduce the money and the labor required to produce it, meaning it could reach further and wider, the report said.
With China’s technology ecosystem and strong government support, at least 30 Chinese companies, universities and research institutions were developing generative AI models as of April, it said.
By growing its technical capability in developing large language models, on which OpenAI’s ChatGPT is based, trained mainly on Chinese-language data, the Chinese government might acquire sufficient capability to conduct social media manipulation on both domestic and foreign scales, the report said.
Beijing’s efforts to shape foreign public opinion can be found on more than social media platforms, they also include print, radio and television, it said, adding that “using generative AI for such content at scale would be a natural progression of CCP efforts.”
Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga, one of the authors of the report, told Defense One on Thursday last week that “logically the next target for China would be the Taiwanese [2024 presidential] election” in terms of manipulating public opinion.
The Web site said that social media platforms “aren’t well positioned to guard against” China’s efforts to conduct large-scale manipulation using generative AI.
Indonesia has sent hundreds of riot police to a tiny island after protests broke out against a China-backed project that would displace thousands of residents. About 1,000 people protested in Batam City on Monday over a plan to develop Rempang island into a Chinese-funded economic zone, including the construction of a multibillion-dollar glass factory, that would displace about 7,500 people. Some protesters clashed with security forces outside a government agency, wielding machetes, Molotov cocktails and stones, police said, adding that dozens were arrested. Beijing has poured money into infrastructure and resource projects in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and its investments have previously caused
‘HARASSMENT’: A record 103 Chinese warplanes were detected in 24 hours, posing severe challenges to security in the Taiwan Strait and the region, the ministry said Taiwan yesterday told China to stop its “destructive unilateral actions” after more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nine navy ships were detected in areas around the nation. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) described the number of warplanes detected in 24 hours as a “recent high,” while Beijing has so far refrained from issuing any official comment on the sorties. “Between the morning of September 17th to 18th, the Ministry of National Defense had detected a total of 103 Chinese aircraft, which was a recent high and has posed severe challenges to the security across the Taiwan Strait and in the region,”
China would be making “a grave strategic mistake” if it tried to attack Taiwan, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said in an interview with CNN that aired on Sunday. Asked by host Fareed Zakaria whether the US could repel a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Milley said: “It is entirely possible.” Milley reiterated that the US still maintains the Taiwan Relations Act, and that it wants “a peaceful outcome between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, and whatever that is between those two peoples.” “Militarily, I think China would make a grave strategic mistake if they attempted to
‘CRITICAL TRADE PARTNER’: The proposal had momentum due to a bipartisan consensus on boosting the economic partnership with Taiwan, a US senator said The US Senate Committee on Finance on Thursday passed the US-Taiwan Expedited Double Tax Relief Act, with US officials saying that it would ease pressure on investors and boost the partnership between Taipei and Washington, although Taiwan needs to enact reciprocal legislation for it to take effect. The bill — which was developed by US senators Ron Wyden, the committee’s chairman, and ranking member Mike Crapo, along with US representatives Jason Smith, chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, and ranking member Richard Neal — was passed in a 27-0 vote. The proposal had momentum because of
RSS