“We are getting very good at identifying a Russian campaign,” Microsoft weighs in on disinformation and national security at recent events
Russia is frequently accused of seeding disinformation as part of its hybrid warfare tactics. Microsoft has been at the fore of this new cyberwarfare front.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
What you need to know
Tensions across the world are soaring in multiple regions for multiple reasons. If it isn’t all-out war, it’s saber-rattling to espionage, and other forms of cold warfare. Cyberwarfare is a more recent development in hostilities between nation-states. We all know about hacking, eavesdropping, and the like. But thanks to generative AI and advances in accessible image manipulation tech, deep fakes and disinformation are becoming increasingly potent weapons used against free democracies.
Speaking at a peace summit in Paris (via AFP andYahoo), Microsoft President Brad Smith commented on how Microsoft is wading in to defend against image manipulation and forgery. Translated by France Radio International, “by creating technological tools that facilitate the detection of manipulated, modified, altered content,” Smith remarked that Microsoft has become increasingly adept at detecting state-level disinformation. “We are getting very good at identifying a Russian campaign,” he continued, “like when they tried to tell people not to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Or today, when we see Russian disinformation in the Middle East.”
Smith lamented that right now, there’s no governmental or societal consensus about how this type of content should be managed by tech companies and platforms.
Earlier this month, Brad Smith also shared ablog postdetailing how Microsoft aims to support free and fair elections in the United States. This includes the ability to add digital watermarks to campaign materials to verify authenticity, amongst other tools for detecting deepfakes and manipulated content. Microsoft will also add new features to Bing to help inform voters on electoral issues and voting rights. For an example of the issues Smith is talking about, the current UK opposition leader Keir Starmer has beensubjectedto a string of so-called “deep fakes,” including recent audio shared on X (Twitter) to the tune of 1.5 million views.
An evolving political landscape
This past week, U.S. President Joe Biden has beenhostingChinese premier Xi Jinping at a high-profile summit between the world’s two biggest superpowers. The meetings were cordial in general, as both managed to agree on a range of issues from climate stability to de-escalating military rhetoric. The meeting took place against a backdrop offresh export restrictionscooked up by the U.S. government, as it attempts to curb China’s access to advanced chip technology. As such, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also weighed in on how international security is impacting Microsoft (viaCNBC).
“It’s clear that the United States has a particular set of policy decisions that they’re making on what it means to both have trade and competition and national security. Obviously, we are subject to what the [U.S. Government] decides and [we] will be compliant.”
-Microsoft is making its own Arm chips-Copilot comes to all of Microsoft 365-Bing Chat rebranded to Copilot-Microsoft Loop now generally available-Microsoft Mesh and Immersive Spaces-Microsoft Planner merges To Do and Project-Microsoft launches Copilot Studio-Microsoft Security Copilot
Nadella continued that much of Microsoft’s business exists outside of China, describing Microsoft’s goals for global expansion as “excluding” considerations for the Chinese market, which is notoriously difficult for Western companies to operate in. Recently acquired gaming companyActivision-Blizzard also famously pulled out of China, owing to a disagreement with its local host company NetEase. It’s expected that Western companies “partner up” with local firms to do business in the region.
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
“At least for us, today, the majority of our business is in the United States and in Europe and in the rest of Asia,” Nadella continued, “so we don’t see this as a major, major issue for us, quite frankly, other than any disruption to [our] supply chain.”
Microsoft of course relies on Chinese manufacturing for Surface and Xbox components, although increasingly, Microsoft is looking at manufacturing its own components in other markets.Microsoft debuted its home-grown server chips Maia and Cobalt 100at this week’s bigMicrosoft Ignite 2023event.
Jez Corden is the Executive Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow onTwitter (X)andThreads, and listen to hisXB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!
