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How Iran is messing with the US election
Iranian-linked groups have been trying to disrupt the 2024 US presidential election, according to a recent report from Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center.
On Aug. 10, former President Donald Trump’s campaign claimed that Iranian actors had hacked, stolen, and distributed its internal documents. While the Trump campaign provided few specifics, the claim came a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing Iranian attempts to sow discord online around the upcoming election. The Trump campaign hack appears to line up with what Microsoft called a “spear phishing email” sent from an Iranian-linked group to a “high-ranking official on a presidential campaign.”
Further, Microsoft found that the Iranian group, called Storm-2035, set up four fake news websites, disguised as legitimate American news outlets, with the intention of polarizing American voters on political issues, including LGBTQ rights and the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. The group used generative AI-based tools, the report said, to write article headlines and rephrase stolen content to boost traction with search engines. They also used AI tools to plagiarize existing US publications, the report said, but didn’t offer additional specifics.
Microsoft said that while they have seen malicious actors from China, Russia, and Iran trying to incorporate generative AI into their operations, “recently many actors have pivoted back to techniques that have proven effective in the past — simple digital manipulations, mischaracterization of content, and use of trusted labels or logos atop false information.” AI isn’t a breakthrough technology for these groups just yet — though they’re clearly trying to incorporate them into their operations.
Clint Watts, who runs the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center, said Iran’s goal is different from Russia’s past attempts to affect US elections. “Russia is very different. They're very focused on shaping the outcome of the election,” he told NPR. “Iran is focused as much on just breaking the ability of an election to occur" and interrupting the mechanics of voting. In 2021, the US Justice Department indicted two Iranian nationals who sent threatening materials to voters and spread disinformation about election integrity in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
Microsoft has previously reported that Russia is actively seeking to undermine US support for Ukraine through online influence campaigns. CNN reported on Aug. 12 that the FBI is investigating the breach.Are Microsoft and OpenAI friends or foes?
The move comes amid two notable currents: First, OpenAI recently announced a search engine product called SearchGPT, though it’s still a prototype. That product genuinely could compete with the Bing search engine. But more importantly, antitrust regulators are sniffing around the relationship between the two companies, looking for anticompetitive behavior. Both the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority and the US Federal Trade Commission are investigating the two companies — so much that Microsoft recently ditched its OpenAI board seat.
So, are the two AI giants friends or foes? Well, it’s complicated.
Come inside the tech lab making accessibility fun
It all started with gaming, modifications for joysticks, and controllers that allow disabled veterans to once again play their favorite video games. Now, Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab is a haven of innovation and creativity, featuring toys and tools created by and for the disability community. Come along as Program Manager Solomon Romney takes GZERO on an exclusive tour of the lab making accessibility awesome.
Watch more interviews from Global Stage.
Accessibility is critical for the world's disability community
An estimated 1.6 billion people, roughly 18% of the world’s population, are part of the disability community, and that number grows each year. Yet Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie says only 2% of websites globally are accessible. As Disability Pride Month comes to an end, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke to her about confronting challenges at work and home while embracing the diversity of different abilities.
Watch more interviews from Global Stage.
- The Graphic Truth: More disabled Americans are working and studying ›
- Eddie Ndopu: "People with disabilities need to be in leadership" ›
- UN Global Advocate Eddie Ndopu: Changing how the world thinks about disability ›
- Should internet be free for everyone? A Global Stage debate ›
- Come inside the tech lab making accessibility fun - GZERO Media ›
Microsoft’s Inflection deal gets a closer look
The UK’s antitrust regulator is scrutinizing Microsoft’s unique relationship with Inflection AI. The PC giant did what some have called an “acqui-hire” — not buying the company outright, but rather hiring many of its former leaders and employees instead.
Microsoft poached the once-$4 billion startup’s co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan as well as “most of its staff.” It paid $650 million to license Inflection’s technology, which is how investors will get their returns. Now, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is looking at whether the deal is a “de facto merger,” a decision it’s expected to make by Sept. 11.
Microsoft is already facing scrutiny for its $13 billion investment in OpenAI in the US and UK, choosing to relinquish its non-voting board seat to stave off further criticism last week. We’re watching for how Microsoft fares in court, and whether it changes its tack in competing for the top talent and tech in AI development.OpenAI announces next model and new safety committee
OpenAI announced that it is training a new generative AI model to eventually replace GPT-4, the industry-standard model that powers ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
But the OpenAI board of directors also said that it’s forming a new Safety and Security Committee to advise it on the risks posed by powerful AI. After the previous board of directors abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman for not being candid with them in November 2023, OpenAI staffers and lead investor Microsoft pressured the board to rehire Altman. It worked: Altman rejoined the company, and most of the old board members resigned.
OpenAI has sought to be an industry leader in generative AI while staying in the good graces of regulators looking to rein in its ambitions. OpenAI took the Biden administration’s voluntary pledge to mitigate AI risks in July 2023, and Altman recently joined the Department of Homeland Security’s new Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board.
The US has done little to curb the ambitions of its most prominent AI firms, but that good grace is dependent on the appearance of being a reliable and trustworthy actor — one that will propel Silicon Valley ahead of other global tech hubs while building AI that can help humanity, not harm it.
Hard Numbers: SoftBank’s hardy investment, Grok gets cash infusion, Humane’s rescue plan, Kenya’s tech upgrade, News Corp and OpenAI strike a deal
6 billion: Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has raised $6 billion from venture capital investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, plus Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Kingdom Holding Company. The new funding round boosts the value of xAI, which makes the AI chatbot Grok, to $24 billion. Musk is a cofounder of OpenAI but severed ties with the firm in 2018 and has since sued the ChatGPT maker, alleging it abandoned its founding principles.
750 million: Humane, the company that recently released an AI-powered pin to scathing reviews, is reportedly looking for a buyer to swoop in. While customers have to cough up $699 for the signature pin, a corporate buyer would need to pay between $750 million and $1 billion — if the company’s current management fetches any interest, that is.
1 billion: Microsoft and the UAE-based tech giant G42 are pouring $1 billion into a geothermal-powered data center in Kenya. This East African investment is the first big announcement since Microsoft invested $1.5 billion in G42 in April, a deal brokered by the Biden administration. Microsoft and G42 also pledged to work on local language and skills training initiatives with the Kenyan government and companies in the country.
250 million: OpenAI struck a licensing deal with News Corp., the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, reportedly worth $250 million over five years. News Corp’s stock rose on the announcement, and the deal represents a burgeoning revenue stream for news companies. But the deal isn’t without critics: The Information’s founder Jessica Lessin wrote that publishers like News Corp need to know their worth with AI companies, hungry for content, and not rush into any deal for “relative pennies.”
Mind your clicks — AI is watching
Privacy experts warn that new computers with built-in artificial intelligence technology mean Big Tech is increasingly watching what you do.
On May 21, Microsoft announced that it’s building AI directly into Windows operating systems that power PCs. The company announced a new line of what they’re calling Copilot+ PCs, available on June 18, built onto Microsoft’s own Surface devices, as well as on Windows devices from manufacturers such as Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.
Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot, which runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4o AI model, will factor into many aspects of a user’s computing experience, whether they’re typing on Microsoft Word or browsing the web.
But the star of the show is something called Recall, which watches your activity in a way that can be summoned on-demand when you’re frustrated and looking for something you once saw. “With Recall, you can access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post.
Cooper Quintin, senior public interest technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he is concerned about the issue of data collection when it comes to new AI technology.
“This will create a treasure trove of sensitive information for law enforcement, spies, or hackers,” he said.
Microsoft has said Recall processes and stores content locally on the device, rather than sending it to the cloud, to boost privacy of users.
Calli Schroeder, senior counsel and global privacy counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said that only ameliorates some concerns. “Constant screenshots of user actions for Recall and other AI programs is a form of surveillance,” she said. “Keeping the data on-device addresses some of the risks of that surveillance but doesn’t change the fact that user activities are being monitored and recorded in great detail and volume.” She noted that data collection is nothing new, but the increased scale presents fresh potential for “misuse, breach, and interference.”
Microsoft’s website says that users can “limit which snapshots Recall collects,” but Quintin and Schroeder both said they hope that the default experience is that users have to opt into using the features rather than opt out.The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner's Office, the country’s data watchdog, told the BBC that it has contacted Microsoft to request additional information about how Recall works. “We are making enquiries with Microsoft to understand the safeguards in place to protect user privacy," a spokesperson said.
Schroeder said she hopes that technology companies that build AI systems will allow adequate outside monitoring from civil society groups, technologists, researchers, and regulators. “Governments are some of the only bodies with power to force enough disclosure of system structure to confirm whether that is accurate and whether those measures adequately protect people,” she said.
Manufacturers are racing to get their own devices up to speed too. Ahead of the Microsoft announcement, Dell announced its Latitude AI PCs in February (and has seen its stock double in the past six months on AI hype) while HP released its suite of AI PCs in March. And it won’t just be PCs: Google announced it’s adding AI features, powered by its Gemini model, to Chromebooks. Meanwhile, Apple has suggested that its iOS 18 operating system, which powers iPhones, will come with a suite of generative AI features when it’s released in the coming months. And its next chips for Macs and iPads, called M4, should provide the computing power needed in the likely case the company wants to follow its rival’s lead.
Microsoft’s announcement also signals that AI could quickly infiltrate all of our computing experiences — whether we want it or not, and whether we’re aware of it or not. While users still have to search out AI chatbots, they may soon be impossible to avoid.