U.S. officials say Russia is embracing AI for its election influence efforts

Russia is the most prolific foreign influence actor using artificial intelligence to generate content targeting the 2024 presidential election, U.S. intelligence officials said on Monday.

The cutting-edge technology is making it easier for Russia as well as Iran to quickly and more convincingly tailor often-polarizing content aimed at swaying American voters, an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters at a briefing.

“The [intelligence community] considers AI a malign influence accelerant, not yet a revolutionary influence tool,” the official said. “In other words, information operations are the threat, and AI is an enabler.”

Intelligence officials have previously said they saw AI used in elections overseas. “Our update today makes clear that this is now happening here,” the ODNI official said.

Russian influence operations have spread synthetic images, video, audio, and text online, officials said. That includes AI-generated content “of and about prominent U.S. figures” and material seeking to emphasize divisive issues such as immigration. Officials said that’s consistent with the Kremlin’s broader goal to boost former President Donald Trump and denigrate Vice President Kamala Harris.

But Russia is also using lower-tech methods. The ODNI official said Russian influence actors staged a video in which a woman claimed to be a victim of a hit-and-run by Harris in 2011. There’s no evidence that ever happened. Last week, Microsoft also said Russia was behind the video, which was spread by a website claiming to be a nonexistent local San Francisco TV station.

Russia is also behind manipulated videos of Harris’s speeches, the ODNI official said. They