China turns to AI in hopes of creating viral online propaganda, Microsoft researchers say | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chinese influence operations appear to be improving as state operatives deploy artificially generated images that are getting more engagement.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/chinese-ai-ops-microsoft\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China turns to AI in hopes of creating viral online propaganda, Microsoft researchers say\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chinese influence operations appear to be improving as state operatives deploy artificially generated images that are getting more engagement.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/chinese-ai-ops-microsoft\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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readability=\"0.82\"> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"25.23508353222\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"30.6\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/geopolitics\/\"> <span>Geopolitics<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> Chinese influence operations appear to be improving as state operatives deploy artificially generated images that are getting more engagement. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Chinese national flag flies outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on July 26, 2023. (Photo by GREG BAKER\/AFP via Getty Images)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=768,511 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=1024,682 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=1536,1022 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=600,399 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=252,168 252w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=506,337 506w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=1014,675 1014w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say-1.jpg?resize=1266,843 1266w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1014px) 100vw, 1014px\"><figcaption> The Chinese national flag flies outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing on July 26, 2023. (Photo by GREG BAKER\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"35.286557456035\"><body readability=\"71.14296616637\"><\/p>\n<p>Chinese state-affiliated hacking groups are become more adept at using artificial intelligence to generate content designed to \u201cgo viral across social networks in the U.S. and other democracies,\u201d researchers with the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have observed China-affiliated actors leveraging AI-generated visual media in a broad campaign that largely focuses on politically divisive topics, such as gun violence, and denigrating U.S. political figures and symbols,\u201d the researchers said. The visuals generated during the campaigns are more \u201ceye-catching than the awkward visuals\u201d previously deployed in Chinese operations, the researchers noted in a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/on-the-issues\/?p=65777\">report and blog post published Thursday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The activity is part of Chinese information operations\u2019 increasing success at engaging target audiences around the world, which includes \u201cChina\u2019s state-affiliated multilingual social media influencer initiative\u201d that has \u201csuccessfully engaged target audiences in at least 40 languages and grown its audience to over 103 million,\u201d the researchers said in the report. Chinese state-sponsored propaganda is pushed by a network of more than 230 \u201cstate media employees and affiliates who masquerade as independent social media influencers across all major Western social media platforms,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n<p>Part of this activity includes social media personas operated by real people that employ fictitious or stolen identities that conceal connections with the Chinese government and share artificially-generated content. \u201cThis relatively high- quality visual content has already drawn higher levels of engagement from authentic social media users,\u201d the researchers said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cChina has continued to expand its cyber capabilities in recent years and shown much more ambition in its IO campaigns,\u201d the researchers concluded. \u201cWe can expect wider cyber espionage against both opponents and supporters of the CCP\u2019s geopolitical objectives on every continent. While China-based threat groups continue to develop and utilize impressive cyber capabilities, we have not observed China combine cyber and influence operations\u2014unlike Iran and Russia, which engage in hack-and-leak campaigns.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Simultaneously, Chinese-related cyberespionage operations continue apace, including the operation revealed in May where hackers used stolen Microsoft authentication keys to steal U.S. cabinet officials\u2019 emails ahead of strategic diplomatic meetings between U.S. and Chinese officials. Microsoft <a href=\"https:\/\/msrc.microsoft.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/results-of-major-technical-investigations-for-storm-0558-key-acquisition\/\">said in a separate blog post Wednesday<\/a> that the Chinese hacking group in that case, tracked as Storm-0558, compromised a Microsoft engineer\u2019s corporate account in April 2021 to gain access to the keys.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft also <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/china-critical-infrastructure-volt-typhoon\/\">revealed in May<\/a> that Chinese-linked hacking operations targeted critical infrastructure entities in the U.S. and Guam possibly as part of efforts to lay the groundwork for disrupting communications between the U.S. and Asia in the event of a crisis. That operation was linked to a group tracked as Volt Typhoon, but at least two other distinct Chinese-linked hacking groups continue to target the U.S. defense industrial base broadly, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>China has displayed a \u201cparticular focus on the South China Sea region,\u201d the researchers said in Thursday\u2019s report, in activity that \u201csignals attempts to gain competitive advantages for China\u2019s foreign relations and strategic military aims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A group Microsoft tracks as Raspberry Typhoon is the primary Chinese-linked effort in the region, with a particular focus on Taiwan, but also Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. The group \u201cconsistently targets government ministries, military entities, and corporate entities connected to critical infrastructure, particularly telecoms,\u201d and has been \u201cparticularly persistent\u201d since January 2023.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"1.2397260273973\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by AJ Vicens<\/h4>\n<p> AJ covers nation-state threats and cybercrime. He was previously a reporter at Mother Jones. 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{"id":1687,"date":"2023-09-07T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=76894"},"modified":"2023-09-07T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T13:00:00","slug":"china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/07\/china-turns-to-ai-in-hopes-of-creating-viral-online-propaganda-microsoft-researchers-say\/","title":{"rendered":"China turns to AI in hopes of creating viral online propaganda, Microsoft researchers say"},"content":{"rendered":"