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Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday.

The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance and identifying key public opinion influencers. It analyzes those people’s psychological tendencies, values and linguistic characteristics, including specific dialect expressions, and creates a fictional character with similar traits, the paper reported.

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The fictional characters not only unilaterally spread disinformation, but could also engage in online discussions with their target audience to influence them, it said.

A person working in Taiwan’s AI industry told the newspaper that given the advancement in AI, it is nearly impossible to identify AI-generated characters on social media.

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The Yomiuri Shimbun report said that as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) administration aims to block President William Lai (賴清德) from getting re-elected in 2028, public opinion warfare in the nine-in-one local elections next year — often seen as the prelude to the presidential election — is expected to be intensified.

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