With a lack of available resources Russia has adjusted its tactical approach to one of asymmetric warfare, where strategic influences and attacks have the potential to produce the greatest impact for their cost. For example, it is estimated that Russia spent about $1 million to influence the 2016 U.S. elections: $100,000 on Facebook ads, $4,700 on Google ads, $240,000 over two years on the IRA troll farm, $50,000 for an intelligence gathering trip by agents in 2014, plus costs for setting up 36,000 automated Twitter bot accounts, costs for creating divisive content, and costs related to the cyber-attacks on the Clinton campaign and the DNC.
The new threat in the information space is AI-driven asymmetric warfare (ADAW). As AI technology advances, the content of disinformation is changing from static (memes, ads, fake news stories) to dynamic (video, audio, "deep-fakes"). AI is also being researched for the purpose of understanding and manipulating human emotions and responses. The manipulative content is able to selectively reach targets via existing advanced content distribution networks.
Summarized from a November 15, 2018 Brookings Report "Weapons of the weak: Russia and AI-driven asymmetric warfare."
Additional resources:
Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus
CSIS "Promising Start, but Few Details in House AI Report"
“Digital information warfare is cost-effective and high-impact, making it the perfect weapon of a technologically and economically weak power,” @apolyakova writes on Russian disinformation campaigns https://t.co/8s4qNNpv7v pic.twitter.com/qG9e4hALlh
— Brookings (@BrookingsInst) November 26, 2018
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