Posted on 09/18/2026 2:38:50 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The countries, along with Israeli firms, combined Chinese open-source A.I. models and A.I. agents for the campaigns, foreshadowing future online manipulation.
Iran, China and groups in Israel used artificial intelligence in novel ways in recent months to create first-of-their-kind influence campaigns on social media, ratcheting up concerns among U.S. officials and security researchers about the fast-evolving technology.
The countries and groups combined A.I. tactics to ramp up the speed and scale of online campaigns beyond what people could easily achieve and with minimal human interaction, U.S. officials and security researchers with knowledge of the efforts said.
First, the countries and groups turned to Chinese “open-source” A.I. models, which are increasingly powerful systems that are freely available to download and modify. Then they used those A.I. models to create “agents,” which are bots that can operate software and complete tasks on their own.
Once hundreds of those A.I. agents were let loose, they autonomously opened networks of fake accounts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok, the officials and security researchers said. The agents then rapidly seeded the fake accounts with false posts about politics and current events to sway opinions and inflame issues.
It was one of the first times that A.I. agents backed by Chinese models were used to handle every stage of influence campaigns, from the creation of the fake accounts to coordinating their messaging online, said the U.S. officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on sensitive issues. In most of the cases, the safeguards that would normally stop an A.I. model from creating a fake account or manipulating discussions online were turned off by those operating the systems, they added.
The “agentic” campaigns were crude, but caught the attention of U.S. intelligence,...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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I’m telling ya, the Red Chinese ARE OUR #1 ENEMY!!
I doubt chink or Iranian Ai spam will be all that subtle.
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