PerspectiveArtificial Intelligence: China “Uses Taiwan for Target Practice” as It Perfects Cyber-Warfare Techniques
China has already deployed its expertise in artificial intelligence to make China into a surveillance state, power its economy, and develop its military. Phil Sherwell writes that now Taiwan’s cybersecurity chiefs have identified signs that Beijing is using AI to interfere in an overseas election for the first time. It is “a laboratory for China for adaptation and improvement on political warfare instruments which can then be unleashed against other targeted democratic societies,” Michael Cole, editor of the Taiwan Sentinel, said
China has already deployed its expertise in artificial intelligence to make China into a surveillance state, power its economy, and develop its military. Phil Sherwell writes in The Times that now Taiwan’s cybersecurity chiefs have identified signs that Beijing is using AI to interfere in an overseas election for the first time.
Sherwell adds:
In the run-up to its general and presidential elections on Saturday, Taiwan has detected what appear to be experiments with AI-generated messaging amid disinformation unleashed by Beijing and its proxies. This could presage China’s export of its Orwellian tools for manipulation and control to influence other democracies.
If Chinese programmers can teach intelligent machines to mimic the language of voters — learning idioms, slang and mindsets via elaborate algorithms — it will be a game-changer, spreading fake news and disinformation through anonymous social media accounts at viral speeds, analysts predict.
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Michael Cole, editor of the Taiwan Sentinel, who has investigated Chinese influence operations, said there was “accumulating evidence that Beijing has begun experimenting with AI to generate false content and disinformation.
“We’re seeing the first steps towards using AI and computers to ‘write’ news, using a few keywords, that seems credible,” he said. “We’ve also been seeing evidence of automation in the sharing, almost instantly, of disinformation on social media. I think AI will be the next phase in Beijing’s efforts to overload and saturate the Taiwanese information environment.”
It is “a laboratory for China for adaptation and improvement on political warfare instruments which can then be unleashed against other targeted democratic societies.” he said.
