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from the Where-can-I-get-a-bot-to-work-my-farm? dept.
The Global Government Affairs team over at X dropped a bombshell Thursday night, revealing that the X Safety team had uncovered proof positive of a foreign influence campaign targeting the build out of AI and data centers in the United States:
It turns out that, after launching an investigation, the team uncovered a massive bot farm consisting of roughly 200,000 "suspected Chinese inauthentic accounts," including hundreds that appear to have been trying to manipulate debate in the U.S. over artificial intelligence, data centers, and the associated energy costs.
This development comes after President Trump warned last month that "other nations are trying to get us to slow down" and are spending money on "propaganda" to convince Americans that data centers aren't a positive thing.
According to X, about 200 accounts within the bot farm network were posting claims that data centers drive up household electricity prices and put excessive strain on the power grid. Some of the accounts, ironically, posted AI-generated cartoons depicting data center operators getting rich while ordinary American citizens were stuck paying the bill.
[...] The insidious thing about this kind of foreign influence operation is that it preys on the concerns that many Americans already have about the data centers popping up in their communities – debates about things like electric bills and the robustness of the power grid are already happening here. All a foreign adversary like China has to do is amplify those fears and sow distrust to make it harder for the U.S. to keep building out its AI infrastructure.
Related:
- Protesters Haul A Guillotine To City Council Meeting About A Potential AI Data Center
- Texas Halts Data Center Connections to Power Grid Amid Overwhelming Demand
- The Fight Against AI Data Centers is Important – but It's Just a Starting Point
- 'Cost Me the Election': Data Centers Trigger Voter Backlash
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday August 31, @05:09PM (5 children)
You might not like what it says - but that doesn't make it bogus. Can you prove it is bogus?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31, @05:53PM (4 children)
It's not about what I like. It's propaganda from Musk/Trump. It's bogus because they have no real proof of anything they said. all hearsay from interested parties. You should be more suspicious of anything these people say. They are known liars, robbing our treasury and dismantling our government, selling off the pieces, and I am disappointed that you are defending them.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday August 31, @07:25PM (3 children)
I am not defending them. A community member submitted this story - direct your challenges to them. I will also await your own submissions. You have made 2 submission in 12 years, the most recent in 2019. You are about due another aren't you?
However, this is a discussion site. You made a claim. I am asking you to prove what you said. Saying it is 'propaganda' is easy. How do you know that there isn't a Chinese bot farm? You are implying that there isn't, but you cannot offer more than calling it propaganda.
One of the problems that I am now finding on this site is that some people, particularly Americans, are turning every discussion into an us verses them political argument. You have got the government that the American people voted for and unfortunately it doesn't appear to the the government that you want. I don't give a damn - it isn't my problem.
I know, I know, I've read your posts encouraging others to change the voting system but, until that happens, you are stuck with what you have. So please take your politics elsewhere.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31, @10:16PM (2 children)
? What does that even mean? I challenge the story, not the submitter. It seems, once again, you are taking it personally.
No, it's not my politics, I am contesting a very political accusation by people we know that have a reason to lie. The story is pure politics, without verifiable facts.
:-) Looks like you're trying to create a strawman. Need some help with that? I did no such thing. And besides, I don't care about propaganda bot farms (aside from the bandwidth and electricity they consume). That's an issue for idiot believers to deal with. They are the problem, not the bot farms.
Well, there ya go. You pegged the story perfectly. So I'm not sure what your beef is with me.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Monday August 31, @10:57PM (1 child)
Umm there are other sites covering the X stories with more examples of why they think it is a bot farm. Yes, identifying signal patterns are not verifiable facts. Maybe they're Chinese, maybe not.
I've stated in a post above already, China is taking the AI race seriously - they've done other things, which I won't repeat for the nth time, go and educate yourself on it, to undermine the U.S.'s lead in it, regardless of how much you hate Trump or Altman or the AI companies or think AI is just a fad. The superpower, specifically the big totalitarian one, don't think so.
btw, I'm not American, the AI race affects everyone.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 31, @11:19PM
I never said there's no bot farm.
Exactly! That's what I'm getting at. This stuff is too easy to fake, and past history tells us who the best fakers are. Hint: It's not China. And they're not the real enemy either. I would say they are more the magician's assistant.