Russia is kicking its disinformation machine into high gear ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games — and according to Microsoft cybersecurity researchers, it’s using AI to do it. The Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) released a report yesterday outlining Russia’s sophisticated use of generative AI tools to spawn content designed to disparage the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and “create the expectation of violence breaking out in Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.” According to the report, these disinformation attacks kicked off in June 2023, when a Russia-affiliated “influence actor” dubbed Storm-1679 posted a fabricated Netflix documentary titled “Olympics Has Fallen” — a spoof of the 2013 film “Olympus Has Fallen” — to the app Telegram. Noting in its report that the clip “demonstrated more skill than most influence campaigns we observe,” MCAT explained that Storm-1679 had used AI to deepfake the voice and likeness of American actor Tom Cruise, who “narrated” the fake video; the AI Cruise was blended with “bogus five-star reviews” from real and trustworthy outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the BBC, all “amid slick computer-generated special effects.” The goal of the video, according to the report, was to denigrate the IOC, which has barred Russia from entry in the upcoming Games due to its ongoing and unprovoked war against Ukraine. But the doctored doc was just the beginning, according to the report. More recently, Storm-1679 and another “prolific” group called Storm-1099 have been churning out fake news videos and articles…Researchers Say Russia Is Using AI to Predict Terrorism at Paris Olympics