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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, the countries and groups turned to Chinese \u201copen-source\u201d A.I. models<\/a>, which are increasingly powerful systems that are freely available to download and modify. Then they used those A.I. models to create \u201cagents<\/a>,\u201d which are bots that can operate software and complete tasks on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n