The United States’ foreign adversaries are using AI tools to influence elections, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The ODNI released a security update stating that China, Iran, and Russia are using “generative AI technology to boost their respective U.S. election influence efforts.”
“Generative AI is helping to improve and accelerate aspects of foreign influence operations but thus far the [intelligence community] has not seen it revolutionize such operations,” the statement says. “The risk to U.S. elections from foreign AI-generated content depends on the ability of foreign actors to overcome restrictions built into many AI tools and remain undetected, develop their own sophisticated models, and strategically target and disseminate such content.”
According to the update, Russia has used the most AI-generated content. The ODNI claims that the AI content is designed to “emphasize divisive U.S. issues such as immigration.”
Iran has used AI to “write inauthentic news articles,” the update says, while China has used AI in influence operations across the United States.
A recent report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) detailed the growing extent to which Chinese influence operations are infiltrating the United States.
Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has “directed a wide-ranging effort to enhance the potency and reach of China’s overseas influence activities,” the report’s abstract read. These operations target other countries’ media, businesses, academic institutions, and political figures.
According to the report, influence operations are necessary for “regime survival” and “advancing national interests.” The CCP’s power depends, in part, on the “behavior of foreign leaders and publics.”
