AU hosts informational warfare conference for Army cyber center

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Augusta University held a conference Thursday for captains at the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence at Fort Eisenhower.

Researchers at the university presented findings to them on informational warfare, propaganda operations and AI.

“The most interesting thing I’ve learned is just kind of the survey of how Russia, China, the United States have been using artificial intelligence in various different ways,” said Capt. Ryan Brunner. “It’s interesting to see how our adversaries think about these things versus how we think about them.”

Researchers say foreign adversaries use this technology to target people on social media and create division.

“We’re looking at how strategic adversaries, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Isis and Al Qaeda, how they try to influence us citizens’ decision making processes in their brain and the way they do that is by pushing out propaganda, pushing out influence operations on social media,” said Dr. Craig Albert, the Graduate Director of Intelligence and Security Studies at AU.

Captains were somewhat surprised to hear the impact these kind of messages have on the brain.

“You know, disinformation being used against us, but then also how to deliver a message effectively and thinking about your brain as a chemical apparatus and how that works in relation to traditional messaging,” Capt. Brunner said. “I think that’s really fascinating and it’s not something that we thought about originally when we came to this conference today.”

Events like this help the academic and armed forces sectors work closer together to keep citizens safe from outside influences.

“It’s really like a collaborative effort for how the United States military can integrate academic literature and theory and our expertise from a non-DOD side, into their DOD procedures, policies, and how they operate,” Dr. Albert said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.