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Russia Leverages AI-enhanced "Meliorator" software for foreign malign influence
- truthhurts1 2y ago[flagged]
- infotainment 2y ago“Other countries probably also do similar things, which means this is totally morally correct! Checkmate haters!”
- truthhurts1 2y ago[dead]
- dralley 2y agoWeird how there's always a few 1 minute old accounts posting this stuff whenever the topic of Russian digital ops arises on HN.
- truthhurts1 2y ago[dead]
- klasmate 2y ago[flagged]
- dralley 2y agoI know and agree (that that's the subject of the article), but that's not really the point.
- knowaveragejoe 2y agoIf I had to pick between US or Russian influence in this manner, I'd take the US. Not that it has to be one or the other, but as long as they're going to duke it out...
- truthhurts1 2y ago[dead]
- mardifoufs 2y agoI guess that's true for westerners. Not sure people that got the short end of the american interventionist stick would agree.
- knowaveragejoe 2y agoI'd argue it's true for most people with access to the wider internet. Despite it's flaws and misadventures, the US is clearly the preferable destination to the diasporas of the world, and that preference should tell you something.
- mardifoufs 2y agoAs a destination, I agree. It's not even close. Becoming an American citizen is much much better regardless of where you come from. But if you can't do that, and you live outside the west, america is much much more likely to spy/intervene/drone/bomb your country than Russia. The chances are still rather tiny, especially outside of the middle east. But the US does it a lot more than Russia. Not because Russia doesn't want to mind you, just because they don't have the resources or technology to drone strike/spy/intercept anyone they want to outside of China/Russia.
- sek 2y agoComing from an account created 3 minutes ago, spreading whataboutism and discrediting it by calling it "sci-fi" at the same time.
- truthhurts1 2y ago[flagged]
- kashtas 2y ago[flagged]
- simion314 2y agoFake things are never "legitimate criticism", so maybe we can agree that there is no "What about USA/Israel" argument that can make spamming fake shit OK, right comrade ?
- p_j_w 2y agoAccount created 7 minutes ago and this is its only comment. Low trust.
- anigbrowl 2y agoYou don't have to trust it, the argument stands on its own and is reasonable.
- peepeepoopoo79 2y ago[flagged]
- simion314 2y agoOr new accounts mean the person got banned because he broke the rules, like maybe he was aggressive with other members, some Zed patriots are very sensitive and they get triggered and act like a true Zed with threats of violence or personal attacks , I report them when I see them and have them banned, If you insult me or threaten me then do it in a few paragraphs, put some effort into it, not just 2 words.
- peepeepoopoo79 2y ago[flagged]
- 43467777 2y ago[dead]
- AnEro 2y agoI think this now is exposing a hidden advantage to having reasonable fees behind twitter/X API calls to read information. I haven't seen nearly as many research papers on user's posts in cybersecurity, so they just don't have the same avenue of people doing free work finding ways to combat AI generated profiles. Now that all has to be internal or enough of it to gain some trust back from government agencies and maybe the public. Personally, finding ways to detect this is exactly the stuff that made me interested in the academic route of cybersecurity.
- dralley 2y ago1) Whatever advantage there may be was completely wiped out by the decision to hand a blue checkmark to whoever would pay a couple of dollars, instead of doing a real identity verification. 2) When the perpetrator is a state, paywalls aren't all that effective as a deterrent. The ROI for the perpetrator is always going to be much higher than the ROI for whoever is trying to put the pieces together after the fact. edit: I failed to understand that you were talking about benefit to X, not benefit to society. Gross.
- AnEro 2y agoFair, this is coming from a place of trust my government to handle this stuff since X isn't going to. (Canadian) I agree with what you posted thats why: 1) I prefer open access and because of the reasons you posted, so others can hold the private company accountable 2) This is capitalism if they don't see profit they aren't going to do anything. So I think this is an interesting case for a pure profit/cost saving argument to have that open access to user posts. 3) social media as it is now is measurably bad for society even without propaganda bonus) I like seeing how Elon, touted as a genius, has continuously fumbled X and somehow making it a more exaggerated place that he said it was before his purchase.
- beefnugs 2y agoFunny you mention "trust in the government to handle this stuff" I was considering applying to this "canadian center for cyber security" but all the DEI upfront stuff and the fact that they are putting time and effort into "social media" turns me off real hard. How do they expect tech nerds who want to work for some other reason than someone else's capitalism dream to settle for "monitoring social media" They need job postings mentioning "illegally hacking foreign hardware" or something
- idontknowtech 2y agoIf you want to see some arguing really hard, check out r/UkraineRussiaReport I enjoy it because you can genuinely interact with FSB influencers.
- qwerty456127 2y agoTeaching things like critical thinking, cognitive bias/fallacies/sophism detection, formal logic and fact-checking to the masses has became a vital necessity for national security. Sadly there still are many politicians who prefer to keep their people susceptible.
- ethbr1 2y agoThere's no conspiracy necessary: it's just extra effort. I've always been a proponent of mandatory rhetoric courses in public schools. Hard to see how a democracy produces good results without learning Defense Against the Dark Arts.
- qwerty456127 2y agoIndeed. Nevertheless lack of a conspiracy (which means organized effort of many cooperating actors) doesn't necessarily imply it's not the case at the level of many individual politicians. So many of them actively use so much of the dark arts routinely, trying to trick and hypnotize people into supporting them, that honest rational rhetoric starts seeming obsolete.
- ethbr1 2y agoI'd hazard you're giving politicians far too much foresight: 1.5 year timeframe is a stretch.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoIf you're waiting for everyone on the planet to just get smarter you're going to be waiting a long time. People can also be critical in one area yet turn their brain off in others.
- qwerty456127 2y agoIt seems impossible to make everyone on the planet perfectly smart, yet it seems possible to make the majority smarter than it is, in this specific aspect. We already mass-teach reading and writing, also essentials of sexual hygiene etc. Why not just add basic logic, rhetoric and philosophy to the list of the essentials?
- rdtsc 2y ago> The tool also allowed for the management of the persona profiles through an administrator panel called “Brigadir” and the spreading of disinformation through these profiles through a seeding tool called “Taras.” Brigadir is something like team leader, not necessarily military. Taras is a bit odd, it's a typical Ukrainian name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_(name) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_(name), and I can see it used in a derogatory way. Like say if the FBI used "Ivan" as their tool targeting Russians. I suspect the idea is to influence the social media via fake Ukrainian personas sowing discord or sounding ridiculous, as a way to erode support. They probably gave up trying to make Russian army or government look good, and instead are focusing on making Ukrainians look bad.
- welpo 2y agoWhen I read "Taras", the first thing that comes to mind is Nikolai Gogol's "Taras Bulba": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Bulba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taras_Bulba Not sure it's related, but (spoiler) Taras Bulba's ending isn't pretty (and he is of Ukranian origin).
- ggambetta 2y agoAnd now, 30 years later, the name of this Disney character finally makes sense to me: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Taurus_Bulba https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Taurus_Bulba
- rdtsc 2y agoExactly. I just don’t see Russian disinformation agents using it out of respect of Gogol. Unless we take the idea of fighting against Poles, representing the West, from Taras Bulba?
- 43467777 2y ago[dead]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- hkmaxpro 2y agoRelated: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40919421 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40919421
- spitfire 2y agoMelior in Latin is "better", or "better off". So this software is betterator. This amuses me.