XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc, alt.censorship   
   XPost: comp.misc   
   From: robberbaron@invalid.ut   
      
   D. Ray wrote:   
   > THE UNITED STATES’ secretive Special Operations Command is looking for   
   > companies to help create deepfake internet users so convincing that neither   
   > humans nor computers will be able to detect they are fake, according to a   
   > procurement document reviewed by The Intercept.   
   >   
   > The plan, mentioned in a new 76-page wish list by the Department of   
   > Defense’s Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, outlines advanced   
   > technologies desired for country’s most elite, clandestine military   
   > efforts. “Special Operations Forces (SOF) are interested in technologies   
   > that can generate convincing online personas for use on social media   
   > platforms, social networking sites, and other online content,” the entry   
   > reads.   
   >   
   > The document specifies that JSOC wants the ability to create online user   
   > profiles that “appear to be a unique individual that is recognizable as   
   > human but does not exist in the real world,” with each featuring   
   “multiple   
   > expressions” and “Government Identification quality photos.”   
   >   
   > In addition to still images of faked people, the document notes that “the   
   > solution should include facial & background imagery, facial & background   
   > video, and audio layers,” and JSOC hopes to be able to generate “selfie   
   > video” from these fabricated humans. These videos will feature more than   
   > fake people: Each deepfake selfie will come with a matching faked   
   > background, “to create a virtual environment undetectable by social media   
   > algorithms.”   
   >   
   > The Pentagon has already been caught using phony social media users to   
   > further its interests in recent years. In 2022, Meta and Twitter removed a   
   > propaganda network using faked accounts operated by U.S. Central Command,   
   > including some with profile pictures generated with methods similar to   
   > those outlined by JSOC. A 2024 Reuters investigation revealed a Special   
   > Operations Command campaign using fake social media users aimed at   
   > undermining foreign confidence in China’s Covid vaccine.   
   >   
   > Last year, Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, expressed interest in   
   > using video “deepfakes,” a general term for synthesized audiovisual data   
   > meant to be indistinguishable from a genuine recording, for “influence   
   > operations, digital deception, communication disruption, and disinformation   
   > campaigns.” Such imagery is generated using a variety of machine learning   
   > techniques, generally using software that has been “trained” to recognize   
   > and recreate human features by analyzing a massive database of faces and   
   > bodies. This year’s SOCOM wish list specifies an interest in software   
   > similar to StyleGAN, a tool released by Nvidia in 2019 that powered the   
   > globally popular website “This Person Does Not Exist.” Within a year of   
   > StyleGAN’s launch, Facebook said it had taken down a network of accounts   
   > that used the technology to create false profile pictures. Since then,   
   > academic and private sector researchers have been engaged in a race between   
   > new ways to create undetectable deepfakes, and new ways to detect them.   
   > Many government services now require so-called liveness detection to thwart   
   > deepfaked identity photos, asking human applicants to upload a selfie video   
   > to demonstrate they are a real person — an obstacle that SOCOM may be   
   > interested in thwarting.   
   >   
   > The listing notes that special operations troops “will use this capability   
   > to gather information from public online forums,” with no further   
   > explanation of how these artificial internet users will be used.   
   >   
   > This more detailed procurement listing shows that the United States pursues   
   > the exact same technologies and techniques it condemns in the hands of   
   > geopolitical foes. National security officials have long described the   
   > state-backed use of deepfakes as an urgent threat — that is, if they are   
   > being done by another country.   
   >   
   > Last September, a joint statement by the NSA, FBI, and CISA warned   
   > “synthetic media, such as deepfakes, present a growing challenge for all   
   > users of modern technology and communications.” It described the global   
   > proliferation of deepfake technology as a “top risk” for 2023. In a   
   > background briefing to reporters this year, U.S. intelligence officials   
   > cautioned that the ability of foreign adversaries to disseminate   
   > “AI-generated content” without being detected — exactly the capability   
   the   
   > Pentagon now seeks — represents a “malign influence accelerant” from   
   the   
   > likes of Russia, China, and Iran. Earlier this year, the Pentagon’s Defense   
   > Innovation Unit sought private sector help in combating deepfakes with an   
   > air of alarm: “This technology is increasingly common and credible, posing   
   > a significant threat to the Department of Defense, especially as U.S.   
   > adversaries use deepfakes for deception, fraud, disinformation, and other   
   > malicious activities.” An April paper by the U.S. Army’s Strategic   
   Studies   
   > Institute was similarly concerned: “Experts expect the malicious use of AI,   
   > including the creation of deepfake videos to sow disinformation to polarize   
   > societies and deepen grievances, to grow over the next decade.”   
   >   
   > The offensive use of this technology by the U.S. would, naturally, spur its   
   > proliferation and normalize it as a tool for all governments. “What’s   
   > notable about this technology is that it is purely of a deceptive nature,”   
   > said Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute. “There are   
   > no legitimate use cases besides deception, and it is concerning to see the   
   > U.S. military lean into a use of a technology they have themselves warned   
   > against. This will only embolden other militaries or adversaries to do the   
   > same, leading to a society where it is increasingly difficult to ascertain   
   > truth from fiction and muddling the geopolitical sphere.”   
   >   
   > Both Russia and China have been caught using deepfaked video and user   
   > avatars in their online propaganda efforts, prompting the State Department   
   > to announce an international “Framework to Counter Foreign State   
   > Information Manipulation” in January. “Foreign information manipulation   
   and   
   > interference is a national security threat to the United States as well as   
   > to its allies and partners,” a State Department press release said.   
   > “Authoritarian governments use information manipulation to shred the fabric   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)