Headline, December 21 2023/ MOTLEY : ''' A.I. AVATARS A.I. '''

MOTLEY : 

''' A.I. AVATARS A.I. '''

IN A FAINTLY STILTED TONE AND WITH slightly awkward grammar, the American-accented voice on YouTube last month ridiculed Washington's handling of the war between Israel and Hamas claiming that-

The United States was unable to '' play its role as a mediator like China '' and now finds itself in a position of significant isolation.''

The 10-minute post was one of more than 4,500 videos in an unusually large network of YouTube channels spreading pro-China and anti-US narratives, according to a report this week from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a security focused group.

Some of the videos used artificially generated avatars or voice overs, making the campaign the first influence operation known to the institute to pair A.I. voices with video essays.

The campaign's goal, according to the report was clear : to influence global opinion in favor of China and against the United States. 

The videos promoted narratives that Chinese technology was superior to America's, that the United States was doomed to economic collapse and that China and Russia were responsible geo-political players.

Some of the video clips fawned over Chinese companies such as Huawei and denigrated American companies like Apple.

Content from at least 30 channels in the network drew nearly 120 million views and 730,000 subscribers last year, the report found.

It also found occasional ads from Western companies.

Some of the videos featured titles and scripts that seemed to be direct translation of common Chinese phrases and the names of Chinese companies, the report said.

Others mentioned information that could be traced to news stories that had been produced and circulated primarily in mainland China.

DISINFORMATION - such as the false claim that some Southeast Asian nations had adopted the Chinese renminbi as their own currency - was common. The videos were often able to quickly react to current events. 

Jacinta Keast, an analyst at the Australian institute, wrote that the coordinated campaign might be ''one of the most successful influence operations related to China ever witnessed on social media.''

YouTube said in a statement that its teams work around the clock to protect its community, adding that '' we have invested heavily in robust systems to proactively detect coordinated political operations.''

THE COMPANY SAID it welcomed research efforts and that it had shut down several of the channels mentioned in the report for violating the platform's policies.

Efforts to push pro-China messaging have proliferated in recent years, but have featured largely low-quality content that attracted limited engagement or failed to sustain meaningful audiences, Ms. Keast said.

'' This campaign actually leverages artificial intelligence, which gives it the ability to create persuasive threat content at scale at a very limited cost, compared to previous campaigns we've seen,'' she said.

Over the summer; researchers at Microsoft and other companies unearthed evidence of inauthentic accounts that China employed to falsely accuse the United States of using energy weapons to ignite the deadly wildfires in Hawaii in August.

IN A REPORT IN SEPTEMBER - THE STATE DEPARTMENT ACCUSED China of using ''deceptive and coercive methods'' to shape the global information environment, including the creation of fake social media accounts and even fake news organizations.

META ANNOUNCED LAST MONTH THAT it  removed 4,789 Facebook accounts from China that were impersonating Americans to debate political issues, warning that the campaign appeared to be laying the groundwork for interference in the 2024 presidential elections.

It was the fifth network with ties to China that Meta had detected this year.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Avatars, A.I., Fake News, Disinformation, Propaganda and social media influencers. continues. The World Students Society thanks author Tiffany Hsu and Steven Lee Myers.

With most respectful dedication to the Global Founders Framers of !WOW! and then Mankind, Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world.

See You all prepare for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society - for every subject, and the exclusive and eternal ownership of every student in the world  :    wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter X !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless