Japanese Military Commissions Study on Public Opinion Manipulation Using AI - Reports
The Japanese Defense Ministry instructed a consulting company to research whether public opinion could be manipulated with the use of artificial intelligence to promote the idea among the population that the country's defense is being strengthened, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing government sources.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th December, 2022) The Japanese Defense Ministry instructed a consulting company to research whether public opinion could be manipulated with the use of artificial intelligence to promote the idea among the population that the country's defense is being strengthened, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday, citing government sources.
According to the Japanese news outlet, in October, through a competitive process, the government chose the Japanese department of an international consulting company to initiate the research, which is expected to start in 2023 and will last three years.
Last week, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reportedly instructed his ministers to increase the country's five-year defense budget up to 43 trillion Yen ($318 billion) and raise the annual defense and other related budgets to 2% of the country's GDP by 2027.
Military spending for the fiscal year ending in March 2023 amounted to 5.4 trillion yen.
The defense ministry reportedly plans to boost the budget for the next fiscal year that starts in April 2023 to a record-high of 5.595 trillion yen, while some experts believe that defense spending will approach 6.5 trillion yen. The ministry aims to increase the budget in each subsequent fiscal year in order to eventually reach the mark of 2% of GDP, according to Kyodo.