China using AI vote meddling: report

China using AI vote meddling: report

FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said

Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday.

The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance and identifying key public opinion influencers. It analyzes those people’s psychological tendencies, values and linguistic characteristics, including specific dialect expressions, and creates a fictional character with similar traits, the paper reported.

A surveillance camera is silhouetted behind a Chinese flag in Beijing on Nov. 3, 2022. Photo: Reuters

The fictional characters not only unilaterally spread disinformation, but could also engage in online discussions with their target audience to influence them, it said.

A person working in Taiwan’s AI industry told the newspaper that given the advancement in AI, it is nearly impossible to identify AI-generated characters on social media.

GoLaxy denied it was creating any sort of “bot network or psychological profiling,” or that it had done any work related to Hong Kong or other elections, the New York Times reported in August.

The Yomiuri Shimbun report said that as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) administration aims to block President William Lai (賴清德) from getting re-elected in 2028, public opinion warfare in the nine-in-one local elections next year — often seen as the prelude to the presidential election — is expected to be intensified.

The Mainland Affairs Council’s advisory committee during a Dec. 1 meeting raised deep concerns regarding that issue, and called for enhanced efforts to combat misinformation online and to improve the public’s media literacy.

The Yomiuri Shimbun also discussed how China might have interfered in Taiwan’s previous elections, citing three leaked audio files circulating online in October.

The audio files allegedly contained discussions between the head of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force No. 56 Research Institute and the manager of a Beijing-based data analytics company before the 2018 Kaohsiung mayoral election, the newspaper cited a national security official as saying.

“This election is very important, and even though he [then-mayoral candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), now legislative speaker] might lose, he will eventually get elected,” the voice allegedly belonging to the No. 56 Research Institute head said.

The other person, allegedly the data analytics company manager, said: “Our data volume is increasing, with Facebook accounts in Taiwan increasing from 5.8 million to 60 million, and will increase to 100 million.”

The newspaper also reported that the national security official did not directly use the word “intervention,” but implied that the PLA had intended to intervene to help Han win and sought assistance from the company.

The conversations on the audio files also implied that China had prepared 20 million yuan (US$3 million) for work related to the Kaohsiung mayoral election in 2018 and the 2020 presidential election.

When Han unexpectedly won as mayor and online search volume about him had skyrocketed, there were speculations about public opinion manipulation.