TAIPEI — Taiwan is facing a new and increasingly sophisticated challenge ahead of its November 28 local elections: the possibility that artificial intelligence could supercharge disinformation, manipulate voters and intensify so-called cognitive warfare.
Raymond Greene, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), issued the warning on September 9 during the 2026 Taipei Security Dialogue, saying Taiwan must prepare for a new wave of AI-enabled information manipulation even though the island has earned international recognition for its efforts to counter disinformation.
Greene said the coming threat could be more sophisticated than previous influence campaigns because AI can make deceptive material faster, cheaper and potentially more convincing.
The warning comes just weeks before Taiwan’s nine-in-one local elections, scheduled for November 28, 2026, when voters across the island will choose local leaders and representatives.
AI Could Make Election Manipulation Faster and Harder to Detect
Taiwan has dealt with disinformation and foreign influence operations for years, but the rapid development of generative AI is changing the scale of the problem.
Recent warnings from Taiwanese officials and political groups have focused on the possibility of AI-generated videos, cloned voices, fabricated recordings, fake social-media identities and highly targeted political messages being deployed during the election period.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party has warned that AI could allow influence operators to study online behavior and political interests, imitate local speech patterns, operate fake accounts and create convincing political content tailored to particular audiences.
The danger is not necessarily that every piece of AI-generated content will fool voters. Instead, a flood of fabricated material could make it increasingly difficult for ordinary users to determine what is authentic—while giving false claims the ability to spread faster than fact-checkers can respond.
A July report from Taiwan’s Central News Agency also highlighted concerns after an AI-generated video appeared to imitate President Lai Ching-te’s voice. Lawmakers warned that large quantities of low-cost AI-generated videos, photographs and audio could be combined with foreign disinformation networks and distributed continuously through social-media platforms.
Taiwan Is Already Preparing for the Threat
The concern is no longer theoretical.
Taiwan’s Chiayi District Prosecutors Office said in July that authorities were strengthening their ability to identify and investigate AI-generated misinformation and deepfakes ahead of the 2026 elections. Prosecutors specifically highlighted the need to identify, debunk, suppress and investigate deceptive digital material.
Reuters also reported in August that Taiwan had detected and mitigated AI-assisted cyberattacks against government agencies. The attacks reportedly combined human activity with AI agents, demonstrating how artificial intelligence could be incorporated into broader cyber operations.
Greene warned that the threat extends beyond political messaging. AI-enabled cyberattacks could also pose serious challenges to financial institutions and critical infrastructure, making election security part of a much broader national-security problem.
China-Linked Influence Is a Major Concern
Taiwan has repeatedly accused Beijing of using a combination of military pressure, cyber operations and information warfare to weaken public confidence in Taiwan’s government and democratic institutions.
Analysts cited by Radio Free Asia recently warned that AI could give influence operators additional tools to create deepfakes, fake recordings and highly targeted interactions with voters ahead of the November election.
Taipei Times also reported in June that cybersecurity experts had detected what they described as a coordinated social-media disinformation effort that could be designed to build networks capable of influencing Taiwan’s information environment during the election campaign.
However, the broader AI threat should not be framed as proof that any particular future election manipulation operation will originate from Beijing. Greene’s warning was about the capability and emerging threat, rather than evidence that a specific AI campaign has already been proven to be responsible for Taiwan’s coming election.
Why the November Election Matters
Taiwan’s November 28 vote will be closely watched because local elections can have national political consequences.
Voters will elect mayors and county leaders, as well as local councilors and other officials across Taiwan’s 22 cities and counties.
The election will therefore provide another major test of Taiwan’s ability to protect democratic decision-making while facing increasingly sophisticated digital influence techniques.
For voters, the challenge may be as simple—and as difficult—as determining whether a shocking video, recording or political claim actually came from the person it appears to show.
And that is precisely where AI changes the equation: a convincing fake can be produced in minutes, while proving that it is fake can take considerably longer.
Taiwan’s experience fighting misinformation has given it tools and institutions to respond, but Greene’s warning suggests the next phase of the information war may move faster than previous campaigns.
With the election approaching, Taiwan’s biggest test may not only be protecting ballot boxes—but protecting the information environment in which voters decide how to use them.
WWC ONE MEDIA G.A
Leave a Reply