Pro-China Propaganda Act Used Fake Followers Made With AI-Generated Images

A pro-China propaganda campaign that's been bashing the US on social media created fake followers with the help of AI-generated images. Since June, the campaign has been posting English-language videos critical of the Trump administration on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, according to research company Graphika, which has been tracking the group's activities. Graphika dubs the campaign "Spamouflage Dragon." And like other propaganda activities, the pro-China group uses fake accounts to share and post comments on its content to help it gain wider circulation. However, Graphika noticed something odd with the profile photos belonging to these fake accounts: In some cases, the headshots appear to be the work of an AI program designed to create artificial human faces. At first glance, the profile photos look legitimate.