Russian spying documentary pulled over AI source fears

Danish public broadcaster DR and Norway's NRK removed a documentary on Russian intelligence activities from their streaming services because of fears that artificial intelligence tools could identify anonymous sources, NRK said Monday.

The documentary series, “Skyggekrigen” or “The Shadow War,” originally aired in 2023 and was produced by four Nordic public broadcasters. It focuses on potential Russian spying in northern Europe.

The series claims that at least 50 Russian civilian vessels may have been used to secretly gather information. It also examines ships suspected of mapping sensitive infrastructure installations for possible acts of sabotage.

Frode Froyland, editor-in-chief of NRK's documentary show Brennpunkt, said NRK temporarily unpublished the series after DR informed it that it had done so. He said NRK had anonymised the series securely when it was first published and was working to put it back online.

Morten Goodwin, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Agder, told NRK that AI has become good at de-anonymising poorly anonymised content, including images, sound, movements and videos. He said media outlets protecting anonymous sources must fully blur faces and surroundings and totally alter voices.