China is stepping up its use of artificial intelligence (AI) in cognitive warfare operations against Taiwan, a national security official said on Saturday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the national security apparatus is investigating a YouTube channel called AI Shared Destiny (AI命運共同體), which on Wednesday last week released an AI-generated video simulating a conversation between President William Lai (賴清德) and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
While the channel described its output as “entertainment,” much of the content — including the fictional conversation between Lai and Hsiao — amplified Beijing’s information warfare messages targeting Taiwan, they said.
Photo: Reuters
In the fabricated exchange, the AI-generated Lai says that the US could no longer contain China, suggesting Taiwan’s arms procurement is futile and declaring his intent to make as much money as possible before the end of his term, the official said.
The 48-second video conveyed themes of China’s rising power, Taiwanese and US impotence, and the futility of Taiwan’s defense investments, amounting to a checklist of Beijing’s standard talking points, the official said.
The channel, which has posted about 50 videos, has amassed more than 12,000 subscribers since its launch in July — an unusually rapid rise for a new platform, the official said.
Its content uses simplified Chinese characters, phrases used mainly in China and narratives identical to those of China’s state-run media, suggesting direct involvement by Beijing, they said.
Citing a recent study by Vanderbilt University’s Institute of National Security, the official said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army-affiliated GoLaxy Co (中科天璣) has been using generative AI to study personal data collected from 5,000 Taiwanese from social media.
The company appears to be developing AI-driven psychological profiling tools — examining political leanings, personal values and religious beliefs — to augment the effectiveness of Beijing’s propaganda, they said.
The results of GoLaxy’s efforts have already been put into practice through disinformation and deepfake circulated during last year’s presidential and legislative elections, the official said.
China’s use of advanced technology has transformed the nature of cognitive warfare from broad demographic influence campaigns to the deployment of personally tailored content aimed at specific targets, they added.
Ultimately, media literacy and fact-checking are key for citizens to defend themselves against cognitive warfare, the official said.
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