Microsoft has warned that China will try to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with content generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The tech giant says Chinese state-backed cyber groups are expected to target high-profile elections in 2024. North Korea is said to be involved, according to the report published on Friday.

“As populations in India, South Korea, and the United States head to the polls, we will likely see Chinese cyber actors and influencers as well as some external North Korean cyber actors working to target these elections.” says the report.

According to Microsoft, China will create and distribute via social networks content that interests its positions in these elections, which are considered high-profile. The company said the impact of AI-generated content is small, but warned it could have an impact.

“While the impact of such content on wavering audiences remains small, China’s growing experimentation with video, memes and audio will continue and may prove effective,” Microsoft said.

According to the tech giant, China has meanwhile tried to disinformation the presidential campaign in Taiwan in January with content created by artificial intelligence. The US company said it was the first time it had seen a state-backed entity use AI content to influence a foreign country’s election.

The Beijing-backed Storm 1376 group, also known as Spamouglage or Dragonbrige, was very active during the Taiwan election. They posted fake audio on YouTube of candidate Terry Gou allegedly supporting another candidate in the election. Microsoft said the clip was most likely created by artificial intelligence. YouTube reacted and removed the video before it got too many views.

As for the US, Microsoft says Chinese groups continue to increase influence in the US campaign. Chinese-backed actors are said to be using social media to push “divisive questions” and try to understand issues that divide American voters.

“This may be done to gather information and accuracy on key voter demographics prior to the US presidential election,” Microsoft said. The report was released the same week a White House-appointed panel said a number of Microsoft bugs allowed state-backed Chinese operators to access the email accounts of top US officials. Last month, the US and UK governments accused Chinese-backed hackers of a cyber campaign targeting UK politicians, journalists and businesses.