China may use AI to influence poll in India, cautions Microsoft report

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, April 6

China may deploy artificial intelligence-generated content via social media to influence public opinion to boost its geopolitical interests during elections in countries like India, South Korea and the US, tech giant Microsoft has warned.

“With major elections taking place around the world this year, particularly in India, South Korea and the US, we assess that China will, at a minimum, create and amplify AI-generated content to benefit its interests,” Clint Watts, general manager, Microsoft Threat Analysis Centre (MTAC), said in a blog post.

‘Such tactics proved futile in taiwan’

• Tech giant Microsoft warns China may use AI content during polls in India and US to boost its interests
• But says such tactics were ineffectively deployed against Taiwan, Japan and South Korea

Watts has a history of critical posts about cyber influence operations by Iran, Russia and China. He, however, concedes that the chances of such content affecting the election results remain low, but felt China’s increasing experimentation in augmenting memes, videos and audio will likely to continue and may prove more effective down the line.

The brief reference to India was mentioned in the latest 16-page East Asia report by the MTAC, titled, “Same targets, new playbooks: East Asia threat actors employ unique methods”.

The report says Chinese groups like Storm-1376 used the likeness of a Canada-based Chinese dissident in a campaign targeting Canadian MPs and also heavily interfered during the recent polls in Taiwan to defeat Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai, but to no avail in both cases. Such tactics were also ineffectively deployed against Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, it said.

Chinese influence campaigns continued to refine AI-generated or AI-enhanced content. The influence actors behind these campaigns have shown a willingness to both amplify AI-generated media that benefits their strategic narratives, as well as create their own video, memes and audio content.