How New Strategic Communication Tactics are Reflected in the Media in the Context of China-US Competition: The Case of Generative AI Based 'Look What You Taxed US Through Video

Abstract

The effects of generative artificial intelligence tools are felt in every aspect of daily life. The current political atmosphere, where economic, political and military competition is intensifying, it is observed that artificial intelligence tools are used by different countries for political discourse production and legitimacy building on a global scale. It was possible to encounter videos of country leaders created with deepfake technology, manipulative digital content produced with AI-supported systems integrated into bot farms, and highly realistic fake profiles and content that created with AI technology-based systems. These activities were often implicitly integrated into the hybrid communication efforts. However, the publication of the artificial intelligence-generated video clip titled “Look What You Taxed Us Through”, which was shared by the official social media accounts of China's official broadcasting channel, following the tariff hike decisions of the United States was a unique example. Because its circulation for international strategic communication purposes presents new dimensions from technolog-wise and discourse-wise. This significant example can be described as a new strategic communication move in the ongoing political and economic competition between the US and China. The fact that the video clip circulates messages critical of the US from the Chinese side on social networks makes artificial intelligence a tool for constructing new narratives and influencing existing perceptions in the inter-state political arena through emotional engineering.  The study aims to explore how the decisive role of video content generated with artificial intelligence technology in international strategic communication reflection in the media. At this point, the content shared by news channels on this topic will be systematically collected and analyzed using an inductive content analysis approach. In order to access the news content, the Google News search tab will be used with the keywords “Look What You Taxed Us Through”, which is the name of the video clip, and non-repetitive content will be included in the study. While the main research question of the study is “How is video content on the theme of international strategic communication generated by artificial intelligence framed in news texts?”, the relationship between variables such as the profile of the platform that publishes the news, the tone of writing of the news, the way it is conveyed to the reader, how it is connected with other artificial intelligence technologies, how the issue of artificial intelligence is made sense of in general, and what kind of context is constructed about technology within the framework of the United States - China relations will also be discussed. In addition, the study will examine how the media perceives a key case involving the use of AI-generated content for strategic communication purposes. It is important to explore this case because “artificial intelligence” emerges as a new and important front in the battle for economic and political supremacy between the United States and China. In this context, the findings will also make it possible to realize a discussion on how the technological side of the competition between these two countries has developed. Under the light of the findings, it is aimed to create a ground for discussing how artificial intelligence technologies are positioned in global competition, how the politicization of technology in the age of poly-crisis is tried to be made sense of, and how artificial intelligence can be positioned at the point of strategic communication. It will also enable the development of a perspective on how the technological side of the competetion between the United States and China is evolving. Finally, it will provide an opportunity for a multi-faceted discussion on how to prevent the erosion of truth in the shadow of international strategic communication wars and emerging technologies.