341
submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Beijing did a test run in Taiwan using AI-generated content to influence voters away from a pro-sovereignty candidate

China will attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft has warned.

The US tech firm said it expected Chinese state-backed cyber groups to target high-profile elections in 2024, with North Korea also involved, according to a report by the company’s threat intelligence team published on Friday.

“As populations in India, South Korea and the United States head to the polls, we are likely to see Chinese cyber and influence actors, and to some extent North Korean cyber actors, work toward targeting these elections,” the report reads.

Microsoft said that “at a minimum” China will create and distribute through social media AI-generated content that “benefits their positions in these high-profile elections”.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

There are a lot of Americans who think they understand China really well, but I'm not sure they do.

[-] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 months ago

“Nation seeks to weaken rival” isn’t very difficult to process. Or are you referring to people with a romanticized view of China?

[-] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world -4 points 7 months ago

Rival for what? Should we all just assume that every country is in a competition for global supremacy, that China must necessarily be trying to usurp the US as the dominant global superpower. I think it's entirely possible that China's ultimate goal isn't world domination. I don't claim to know what their ultimate goal is, but that's my point: a lot of other Americans do claim to know.

[-] norbert@kbin.social 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I think it's safest to assume that the other large superpower investing in basically everything, that has stated its goal of hegemony, is working towards that goal.

Or we could just say "Nah they probably don't want worldwide influence and power as the U.S.s wanes." like naive kids that don't understand realpolitik.

Interesting side note: I actually went to a big Chinese-themed lantern festival last night that I'm sure was at least partially underwritten by China.

[-] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

China has a stated goal of global hegemony? What kind of hegemony? Cultural, ethnic, political? Is that also the stated goal of the US? Because, if so, I as an American do not support that, especially if hegemony is to be achieved through force.

[-] norbert@kbin.social 3 points 7 months ago

Ask Taiwan, eastern Russia, and the entire continent of Africa what kind of hegemony.

I never said the U.S. isn't a hegemony, just that China has those same goals and to assume altruism is naive at best.

[-] TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Who said anything about altruism? I don't think altruism or hegemony are the only two possibilities, as though every country must be either a master or a slave. A country can pursue its own interests, provide for its people, defend its borders and sovereignty without necessarily also pursuing global dominance.

[-] norbert@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago

A country can pursue its own interests, provide for its people, defend its borders and sovereignty without necessarily also pursuing global dominance.

Hypothetically? Sure.

Let me ask you a question, do you think China does or doesn't want to be a Superpower?

Be honest with yourself and there's your answer to their motivations.

[-] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 3 points 7 months ago

Democracy tends to spread as an idea. Freedom feels good and just so happens to, for the most part, bring nations socially, and economically, closer to the US. So to directly answer your question: rival political structure, rival military, rival economy, rival social structure, etc.. I promised myself I wouldn’t engage in long winded political discussions on lemmy so I’ll cut it off there.

Freedom feels good and just so happens to, for the most part bring nations socially

This part I'd agree with

and economically, closer to the US

This part, much less so. The US has a pretty bad history of overthrowing democratically elected leaders and replacing them with US business friendly politicians, whether through hijacking the legal process as with delaying President Lula, or by backing a coup as with Pinochet.

Given the context of this conversation, I should probably note that I don't support China taking over Taiwan, or meddling with our elections to sow instability either. I'm just challenging the point that the US is friendly to democracy - which has also had bad influence on European democracy (where I am).

[-] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 3 points 7 months ago

I really can’t say that I care enough to flit through my memories of my 101s but the soft political pressure exerted by democracy is powerful.

a chart displaying how frequently the US interacts with a nation.

a history of US military and political actions in other nations

[-] fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

Many countries where the US has exerted serious military power like Japan, Germany, and South Korea are now some of the strongest democracies in the world.

[-] eskimofry@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

It's not so straightforward like that. Many countries like Afganistan, Iraq, Vietnam are still reeling from Direct American meddling. I could sit here and type several chapters if I also talked about the indirect meddling.

this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
341 points (95.5% liked)

News

23296 readers
3193 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS