Cammack says China has deployed ‘digital twins’ of every lawmaker

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Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) on Wednesday addressed the international race to achieve dominance over artificial intelligence and the importance behind each country’s efforts to take the lead.

“China and Russia and Iran would love nothing more than for us to say, absolutely, no data science. And that is because it is a cognitive warfare. They will never ever militarily be able to take us over. But they can do the things that they want to do and overtake the United States in a number of different ways…,” Cammack, a member of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, told NewsNation’s Connell McShane at The Hill Nation Summit.

The Florida Republican said foreign adversaries can influence policy in Washington, D.C. without “firing a single shot,” but rather infiltrating the minds of citizens nationwide.

“The thing that people need to recognize is that as we sit here, the Chinese government has already deployed digital twins of every member of Congress and has been using the data that they’ve harvested,” to influence the public, Cammack added.

Digital twins are virtual models designed to predict a lawmaker’s voting behavior, mimic their speaking style on social media and drive a narrative online that can influence public perception.

Foreign actors can map out a member of Congress’ political stance on specific issues while notating their personal vulnerabilities and communications to craft highly targeted disinformation campaigns.

“The minute that your phone starts ringing in Washington and your constituents are saying, I don’t like this or I love this, if you get up to 250 of those calls, people start noticing,” she said referencing potential calls driven by information spread by foreign adversaries.

“And if they can drive a narrative on social media to get your constituents working, that’s an answer,” she added.

Cammack believes it’s not just a national security issue.

“It is an economic issue. It is an innovation issue. This is a competitive issue. It is a litany of issues,” she told attendees.

Lawmakers on the Select Committee on China are warning American companies to be wary of integrating cloud servers that allow Chinese firms to access advanced AI chips Beijing is restricted from physically receiving via sales.

To bypass the ban, Chinese firms have rented servers located in neutral countries including Indonesia or Japan that have these powerful chips.

“In the AI race, China will buy what it can and steal the rest, which is why it is actively trying to get backdoor access to U.S. data centers and train its AI models via cloud computing,” Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) said in a statement last month.

“U.S. cloud platforms have a role to play in stopping China’s AI buildup, which fuels its military and surveillance ambitions,” he added.

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digital twins

John Moolenaar

Kat Cammack

Rep. Kat Cammack

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