China is being accused of using artificial intelligence technology to create a network of fake online accounts for conducting political interference. On Elon Musk’s X platform alone, a network of at least 5 thousand "inauthentic" accounts has been identified which regularly engage in discourse about US politics and targets Australian content.
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00:00What it's uncovered is a new form of information warfare, or a new tactic, involving the social
00:09media platform X, as you mentioned, but, interestingly, harnessing artificial intelligence to create
00:17thousands, it's believed, of inauthentic accounts or fake bot accounts that are getting more
00:23and more sophisticated in engaging with content online.
00:28So they're often commenting on divisive political debates online, amplifying various messages.
00:35And to do this, they're using language tools through artificial intelligence to do so.
00:43This has, as I say, been uncovered in some research that's been released today.
00:48And it does also show that, in some occasions, these bots that are believed to have been
00:54produced by an AI company in Beijing are also starting to engage with some Australian
01:00political content as well.
01:03Privately, senior officials who are aware of these findings, and they have been briefed
01:08quite widely, say that they do believe AI is really going to be turbocharging political
01:15interference campaigns in the years to come.
01:18We're not far off a US election, where in the past there has been foreign interference
01:24in US elections, and it's something that Australian authorities are also worried about.
01:29Well, in this case, they say that if artificial intelligence is being used, that's particularly
01:34helpful for non-English speaking operators who are wanting to target Western democracies.