New Delhi, 6 April

With major economies like India and the US going to polls this year, China is likely to use AI-generated content to benefit its interests, software major Microsoft has alleged in a blog.

The blog is based on Microsoft Threat Intelligence insights in the latest East Asia report "Same targets, new playbooks: East Asia threat actors employ unique methods". "With major elections taking place around the world this year, particularly in India, South Korea and the United States, we assess that China will, at a minimum, create and amplify AI-generated content to benefit its interests," the blog said.

The report even mentions North Korean cyber threat actors also working towards targeting elections in these three countries.

According to Microsoft findings, the chances of the AI-generated content by China affecting election results will remain low but continued experimentation, augmenting memes etc may prove effective down the line.

"Despite the chances of such content affecting election results remaining low, China's increasing experimentation in augmenting memes, videos, and audio will likely continue and may prove more effective down the line," the blog said.

Government quickly sprung into action to check AI-generated deepfakes after a fake video of Bollywood actor Rashmika Mandanna went viral.

Further, the Ministry of Electronics and IT issued dedicated guidelines for AI-generated content after a controversy erupted over a response of Google's AI platform to queries related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Microsoft's threat intelligence report shared screenshots of AI-generated videos in Mandarin and English which alleged that the US and India were responsible for unrest in Myanmar.

The report claims that it has found China-based threat actors continue to target entities related to China's economic and military interests.

The company's threat intelligence team claims to have observed targets of a China-based cyber attackers group Flx Typhoon in the Philippines, Hong Kong, India, and the United States in the early fall and winter of 2023.