How to handle influence operations in the age of generative AI

2024 will be a year in which we watch elections in many countries while paying attention to advances in artificial intelligence (AI), from simulating conversations to generating natural language to creating realistic-looking videos.

Following on from an earlier article in this series by Kousuke Saitou, which argued that distorted information can not only come from abroad but can also be produced and transmitted within Japan, this article will discuss influence operations in the country.

I will discuss the characteristics of social media, including echo chambers and filter bubbles; how they can lead to polarization; emerging technologies such as generative AI that have a high affinity with social media; and Japan’s unique media literacy.