CNN
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Artificial intelligence is helping to “improve” rather than “revolutionize” Russia and Iran’s influence operations aimed at the November elections. American electionsthe Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement assessment released Monday.
“The (US intelligence community) views AI as an accelerator of malign influence, not yet a game-changing influence tool,” an ODNI official told reporters.
The new US assessment is a counterpoint to some media and industry hype about AI threats. But the technology remains a major concern for U.S. intelligence officials monitoring threats to the presidential election.
The risk that AI-generated foreign content poses to U.S. elections depends on the ability of foreign agents to overcome the restrictions built into many AI tools, develop their own sophisticated AI models, or “target and strategically disseminate AI-generated content, according to the report. an official said. “Foreign players are lagging behind in each of these three areas. »
Foreign agents are using AI to try to overcome language barriers by targeting American voters with disinformation, according to U.S. officials.
Iran, for example, has used AI to generate Spanish-language content on immigration, which Tehran perceives as a political issue that divides the United States, the ODNI official said. Agents linked to Tehran have also used AI to target voters across the political spectrum on polarizing issues like the Israel-Gaza conflict, the official said. American officials believe Tehran is trying to undermine the candidacy of former President Donald Trump.
Russia generated the most AI content related to the US election of any foreign power, according to the ODNI official. The AI-driven content — videos, photos, text and audio — is consistent with Moscow’s efforts to promote Trump’s candidacy and denigrate Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, the official said.
China, meanwhile, is using AI “to amplify political issues that divide the United States,” but not to attempt to shape specific U.S. election outcomes, according to the new assessment from U.S. intelligence.
Foreign agents have also adopted many old-fashioned influence techniques this election cycle, such as staging videos rather than generating them with AI.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russian agents released a video that circulated on ‘ODNI. The Russians promoted the story on a website posing as a local San Francisco media outlet, according to to Microsoft researchers.
Another video made in Russia, which attracted at least 1.5 million views on X, purported to show Harris supporters attacking an attendee at a Donald Trump rally, according to Microsoft.
US intelligence agencies warned in July that Russia planned to “covertly use social media” to try to influence public opinion and undermine support for Ukraine in swing states.
“Russia is a much more sophisticated actor in the influence space in general, and it has a better understanding of how U.S. elections are played, where to target and which states to target,” the ODNI official said.
This is not the first U.S. general election where foreign powers are considering deploying AI capabilities.
Agents working for the Chinese and Iranian governments prepared fake AI-generated content as part of a campaign to influence American voters in the final weeks of the 2020 election campaign, but chose not to broadcast this content, according to CNN. previously reported. Some U.S. officials who reviewed the intelligence at the time were unimpressed, saying it showed that China and Iran did not have the capacity to deploy deepfakes in a way that would have a serious impact on the 2020 presidential election.