Ten individuals in Sichuan Province used various AI software tools to generate false news articles, images, and videos about disasters, accidents, and other fabricated events, spreading misinformation on social media platforms to gain traffic and financial benefits.
Between 2023 and 2024, Sichuan police identified ten cases where individuals used AI software to create and spread false information online. The perpetrators used various AI tools including unnamed AI software, 'AI Qianwen', 'Cuilu Bimo' (an AI tool developed by one perpetrator), and 'Zhipu Qingyan' to generate fabricated news articles, images, and videos. The false content included claims about landslides causing 8 deaths in Yunnan, a 5.0 earthquake in Xide County with casualties, police-citizen confrontations in Bazhong, abandoned elderly and infants, bus accidents, infrastructure failures, workplace accidents, and other sensational stories. One case involved an individual who developed an automated AI article generation system and recruited volunteers to manage over 300 social media accounts, producing approximately 420,000 false articles. The perpetrators' motivations included gaining social media traffic, attracting followers, earning platform rewards, and generating financial profit. All individuals received administrative penalties from local police departments across various cities in Sichuan Province including Guangyuan, Liangshan, Bazhong, Chengdu, Dazhou, and Mianyang.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to conduct large-scale disinformation campaigns, malicious surveillance, or targeted and sophisticated automated censorship and propaganda, with the aim of manipulating political processes, public opinion, and behavior.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
No population impact data reported.