Beijing’s official messaging needs AI, algorithms to counter Western media: experts

People’s Daily dedicates full page to expert opinion stressing need for more ‘precise’ information campaigns to dismantle international stereotypes

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In a full page of People’s Daily articles, experts advised how Beijing can use “AI generation tools and analysis” to enhance global messaging campaigns. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Published: 8:18pm, 22 Nov 2024Updated: 10:03pm, 22 Nov 2024

Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily called on the country to enlist AI in an information campaign to debunk US-led narratives about China, highlighting the perceived urgency in a series of front-page articles on Friday.

In the articles, researchers suggested strategies that included harnessing technology to counter Western media, which they said painted an unfair image of China, and hindered the nation’s ability to form a united view of itself.

In one article, Tang Jingtai, a professor at Fudan University’s school of journalism, said it was important to use data and algorithms to support China’s online information campaigns.

He pointed to the use of AI tools and analysis systems to “enhance the efficiency and accuracy” of campaigns to “transform information dissemination from traditional methods to an industrialised and intelligent process”.

Such tools could help to achieve a revolutionary shift from the traditional pattern of “people seeking information” to “information seeking people”, he said.

Online campaigns could also leverage social media algorithms to integrate relevant content into the target audience’s daily information flow, “making it appear less foreign and more natural … thus creating subtle yet powerful influence”, Tang said.