New Delhi: Microsoft has issued a warning suggesting that China might attempt to disrupt or manipulate the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in India using Artificial Intelligence-generated content. According to a report by Microsoft's threat intelligence team, Chinese state-backed cyber groups, along with those from North Korea, could potentially target India's general elections.

The report indicates that China may also aim to influence elections in the US, Europe, and South Korea, where general elections are also scheduled. It highlights China's intention to create and amplify AI-generated content to serve its own interests. While the immediate impact of such content on election outcomes may be minimal, China's growing investment in creating memes, videos, and audio using AI could pose a more significant threat in the future.

Microsoft further reveals that China is employing fake social media accounts to conduct polls on divisive issues among voters, possibly with the aim of influencing the outcome of the US presidential election in its favor.

The company's blog post emphasizes China's increasing use of AI-generated content globally, alongside North Korea's ramped-up cryptocurrency heists and supply chain attacks to support its military and intelligence objectives. Both countries are leveraging AI to enhance the effectiveness of their operations.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-affiliated actors have been observed using deceptive social media accounts to raise contentious questions on sensitive US domestic issues, potentially gathering intelligence on key voting demographics ahead of the US presidential election.

China's geopolitical priorities remain consistent, but its focus on targets and sophistication of influence operations (IO) attacks have intensified. This trend was evident during the Taiwanese presidential election in January, where China-affiliated cyber criminals significantly increased the use of AI-generated content in attempts to influence the outcome.

According to the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team, this marks the first instance of a nation-state actor using AI content to interfere in a foreign election.

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