In the upcoming Saeima elections next year, one of the main threats will be influence operations created using artificial intelligence (AI), - this opinion was expressed in an interview with the LETA agency by the director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence ("Stratcom"), Janis Sarts.
He emphasized that the ability of artificial intelligence to psychologically profile individuals and influence their behavior is rapidly growing, while the ability of people to counter these models is limited. To mitigate risks, "Stratcom" is creating an AI laboratory aimed at protecting elections from AI attacks and ensuring that Latvia stays ahead of Russia and does not lag behind China in the field of AI influence.
According to the director of "Stratcom", the laboratory plans to develop AI agents and digital twins, as well as create autonomous systems capable of conducting and recognizing influence operations. Additionally, next year, the first exercises on strategic communication in a synthetic information environment created by AI are planned, where teams from different countries will train to respond to hybrid warfare conditions.
Sarts noted that synthetic content will be widely disseminated from various sides during the elections. He acknowledged that in democratic countries, it is difficult to propose a single "official" narrative, so protection should be built by disrupting the logistics of the opponent's disinformation dissemination - robotic networks and bots.
