International Courant
The U.S. Division of Justice experiences that it has disrupted a Russian government-backed AI-based propaganda marketing campaign utilizing a bot farm to unfold disinformation.
The U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) has foiled a Russian operation through which faux social media accounts armed with synthetic intelligence had been used to covertly unfold pro-Kremlin messages within the U.S. and overseas, the division mentioned.
Tuesday’s information comes 4 months earlier than the U.S. presidential election, which safety specialists broadly consider would be the goal of each hacking and covert social media affect makes an attempt by international adversaries. Senior U.S. officers have mentioned publicly that they’re monitoring plans geared toward disrupting the vote.
The Justice Division has obtained courtroom approval to grab two domains and search almost 1,000 social media accounts allegedly linked to the transfer.
“With these actions, the Division of Justice disrupted a Russian government-backed, AI-based propaganda marketing campaign to make use of a bot farm to unfold disinformation in america and overseas,” Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland mentioned in an announcement.
Tuesday’s motion marked the primary time the U.S. has publicly accused a international authorities of utilizing generative AI in a international affect operation, DOJ and FBI officers mentioned. U.S. officers have warned that adversaries might use the rising energy of AI programs to scale up efforts to unfold disinformation.
Kremlin-funded effort
The alleged operation, prosecutors mentioned, was orchestrated by a personal intelligence company based mostly in Russia, staffed by Russian intelligence officers and a senior worker of the Moscow-based, government-funded information outlet Russia In the present day, or RT. The trouble was authorized and funded by the Kremlin in early 2023, the DOJ mentioned.
Spokespeople for the Russian embassy in Washington and RT didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The non-public group had designed a customized AI-powered platform to create, monitor and handle lots of of faux social media accounts that mimicked these of actual Individuals, in line with courtroom paperwork.
The accounts on social media platform X have since been banned. They usually posted pro-Kremlin speaking factors, together with movies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and criticized the Ukrainian authorities.
The US labored with Dutch authorities on the investigation. The marketing campaign was carried out from a server within the Netherlands, researchers mentioned.
US Justice Division says it disrupted Russian social media affect operation | Know-how Information
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