AI-generated profile pictures are being used by some accounts to manipulate political messages and crypto schemes. Researchers from Germany found nearly 8,000 accounts using synthetic faces, mainly amplifying political messages and crypto schemes. The majority of these accounts were created in 2023 and they tend to have fewer followers and engage less with their followers.
The study also found that some of these fake accounts were part of coordinated spamming attacks, focusing on issues like the war in Ukraine, US elections, COVID-19, and vaccination policies. Additionally, these accounts promoted crypto scams and sex-related content. The researchers plan to expand detection capabilities to spot AI images generated from other models and improve their methodology to identify coordinated inauthentic behavior across social platforms.
