Liz McQuillan

Liz McQuillan is a Principal Research Data Scientist for Google Threat Intelligence Group, where she leads efforts to understand and combat online/offline adversarial behavior. Her work focuses on developing NLP and network analysis methods to track and mitigate propaganda, hacktivism, online extremism, and influence operations. Liz has published research on the content dynamics of conspiratorial communities, modeling causality in complex social systems, and the role of language in shaping online influence and trust.

Prior to Google, Liz was a Research Scientist and then Director of Applied Science at Graphika where she contributed to programs like DARPA SemaFor and DARPA Ground Truth. She has also independently advised companies and government agencies on applications of AI/ML for understanding and mitigating adversarial actors online. Liz is particularly interested in the real-world impacts of online extremism and influence, and the potential for data-driven solutions to address these critical challenges.

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Talk: Beyond the Hype: AI and Influence Operations [TLP:GREEN]

The integration of Generative AI into Influence Operations (IO) is a rapidly evolving area. Drawing on threat intelligence from Google's Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), this presentation will provide a concise assessment of AI's impacts on the IO landscape. We will move beyond speculative capabilities to focus on key trends observed in real-world campaigns.

The talk will discuss significant ways AI is currently altering IO, such as shifts in content generation, the use of AI in enhancing the scale and sophistication of campaigns, and observed patterns in the adoption and operationalization of AI tools by different types of threat actors.

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