Stanford University researchers in the last week of March 2022 identified more than 1,000 fake LinkedIn profiles in a recent study. The faces on these profiles appeared to be created using artificial intelligence, as reported by the npr (National Public Radio) media organisation.
The digital battlefield has evolved through time to become more complex and prevalent worldwide. False information regarding important events, ranging from the Covid-19 epidemic to the Russia-Ukraine War in 2022, is turning social media into an infowar platform. Here, we look at how infowar is waged on the internet and what really can be done to curb disinformation for the larger good.
AI for infowar
As I am writing, the current Russia-Ukraine war has entered its 35th day. Amid the ongoing war, a video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started doing rounds on social media platforms. In the video, Zelenskyy appeared to instruct his soldiers to lay down their arms and relinquish the struggle against Russia. The video turned out to be a “deepfake video,” as shared by Mikael Thalen, a staff reporter at The Daily Dot.
Also, bots are used by malicious actors to disseminate fake news on social media. These bots take the form of automated accounts that are designed to resemble real people. As per a study by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), bots account for 9 to 15 per cent of all active Twitter accounts.
As of January 2022, the number of social media users in India is 467 million, spending multiple hours on these platforms every day. Companies use constantly shifting algorithms with mostly unknown mechanics to drive this engagement. It’s widely known that social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook use algorithms to push the content that is most likely to appeal to a specific user to the front of their feed. This can not only be used for advertising but may turn out to be a tool to manipulate public opinion, especially during elections – RIP democracy.
Plan of action
Manipulated media poses a risk to government legitimacy, liability for large tech giants like Facebook and Google and presents an opportunity for startups. With so much at risk, time demands these three entities to adopt a human-centric approach and work on authentic solutions to tackle these challenges.
Act to regulate AI: To date, the focus remained confined to controlling algorithms when it comes to regulating AI; however, with developments on the data front, such as in Europe with GDPR and California’s new privacy law – it is clear that data regulation is an effective tool that the government can use for constraining the contexts in which AI technologies can be deployed. With ‘informational privacy’ declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court of India and the data protection bill in its advanced stage, the country seems to be moving on the right track.
Moreover, since the internet knows no boundary, effective collaboration among governments at the international level must be looked upon, respecting privacy concerns while refraining from protectionism. Secondly, it is time for governments to invest in tech solutions to prevent fake pieces of information from disseminating in the first place.
Tech giants must invest in detection: One of the most common expressions in India is “only iron can cut iron”, pointing towards “AI can tackle evil AI”. Deep learning-based models are transforming nearly every aspect of life—recent advancements in natural language processing promise to aid in the detection of fake news. With pressure from governments and the public, tech giants have started pouring resources in this direction.
Take, for instance, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, in collaboration with researchers, launched the Deepfake Detection Challenge. The competition, which attracted over 2,000 competitors, tested AI models on a unique data set of deepfakes.
Furthermore, startups have the golden chance to come forward with unique solutions to stem the flow of fake news and propaganda and prevent social media platforms from being weaponised. However, the thing to be kept in mind is that the greatest defence against infowar is arming people with facts.
Source: indiaai.gov.in
