Nordic broadcasters pull documentary on Russian spying amid fears AI could unmask sources

Danish public broadcaster DR and Norway's NRK have removed a documentary on Russian intelligence activities from their streaming services, fearing that AI tools could be used to identify anonymous sources, NRK said on Monday.

Originally aired in 2023, the documentary series "Skyggekrigen" ("The Shadow War") was produced by four Nordic public broadcasters and focuses on potential Russian spying in northern Europe.

In particular, the series claims that at least 50 Russian civilian vessels may have been used to secretly gather information.

The series also looked into ships suspected of having mapped sensitive infrastructure installations for potential acts of sabotage.

"Skyggekrigen is a Nordic co-production. We therefore temporarily unpublished Skyggekrigen when DR informed us they had done so," Frode Frøyland, editor-in-chief of NRK's documentary show Brennpunkt, told AFP in an email.

The decision was made as a precaution in order to avoid artificial intelligence being used to identify anonymous sources appearing in the documentary series.

According to Morten Goodwin, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Agder, insufficient anonymisation can allow sources to be identified.

"Artificial intelligence has become very good at de-anonymising content, at least in cases where the anonymisation has been poorly done. That applies to images, sound, movements and videos," he told NRK.

With the advent of AI, media outlets that want to protect a source's anonymity must ensure that their face and surroundings are blurred "completely, not just partially" and that their voice is totally altered, he stressed.

"If anonymisation is done properly, there is nothing to fear," he said.

DR did not immediately respond when asked for comment by AFP.