Editor's note: Xu Weijun is an associate research professor at the Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology. His research interests include East Asian international relations and China-US relations. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Recently, discussions over Japan using AI to distort the history of its aggression against China have attracted attention. Based on currently verifiable materials, there is indeed a phenomenon in the Japanese cyberspace where generative AI is being used to mass-produce anti-China, xenophobic and even historically revisionist content. At the same time, the Japanese government has in recent years continued to strengthen its strategic communication capabilities concerning Japan's national image, historical perception and international narratives while beginning to incorporate AI into official systems for information gathering, public opinion analysis and responses to so-called cognitive warfare. The potential risks arising from the convergence of these two trends should not be underestimated.

AI is significantly altering both the production methods and dissemination logic of Japan's right-wing discourse. Japan's Asahi Shimbun has reported that crowdsourcing platforms such as CrowdWorks have hosted numerous projects recruiting creators to produce videos critical of China, with contractors instructed to use generative AI to create images, narration, scripts and videos. Such content is based on pre-determined political and nationalist stances, with AI then used to mass-produce fictional stories that cater to audience emotions. In essence, these are ideologically driven products generated through an industrialized production process.

In the past, the dissemination of historical revisionist and xenophobic content in Japan relied primarily on right-wing politicians, groups, publishing houses and a limited number of media outlets with clear political orientations. Although such forces have long existed, the cost of producing content was relatively high, and their reach remained constrained. Generative AI has broken through these barriers. Now, individuals need only enter simple prompts to rapidly generate large quantities of images, audio and video, which can then be disseminated through platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. Right-wing content can therefore be produced at low cost, in large volumes and even through assembly-line processes, with a significant increase in both the efficiency and reach of dissemination.

More alarmingly, the production of such content no longer relies entirely on traditional right-wing activist groups. Some participants do not hold clear political convictions. They simply produce such videos at the request of clients because the content is more likely to attract clicks and generate revenue. This suggests that Japanese right-wing discourse is developing a new relationship with the platform economy. The more emotional and provocative xenophobic, anti-foreigner and historically revisionist content becomes, the more likely it is to attract traffic. AI has sharply lowered the cost of producing such content, further stimulating an expansion in production capacity. Right-wing ideology, the attention economy and generative AI are thus becoming mutually reinforcing.

The risks become even greater when this model is extended to the realm of historical issues. Issues like the Nanjing Massacre, the "comfort women" issue and Japan's colonial rule have long been subject to denial, minimization and distorted interpretations by the Japanese right-wing forces. In the past, historical revisionism was disseminated mainly through written arguments, textbook revisions or statements by political figures. AI has facilitated the comprehensive visualization of revisionist narratives. It can produce seemingly authentic "historical photographs," generate fictional "testimonies from historical figures" and even reshape public memories of war through fictionalized scenes. For ordinary audiences without professional training in history, such audiovisual content is often more deceptive than traditional written materials.

This danger is particularly serious as the number of those who witnessed the war continues to decline and public understanding of history becomes increasingly dependent on images, documentaries and digital archives. If a large scale of AI-generated content is mixed into the broader body of historical materials, the boundary between truth and fiction will become increasingly blurred. The impact of historical revisionism would then go beyond merely "reinterpreting history" and could gradually produce an alternative historical memory that possesses a misleading sense of visual authenticity. For this reason, the use of AI by Japan's right-wing forces to produce such content should not be dismissed as sensational behavior by a handful of online accounts. It could fundamentally alter the future form of dissemination of historical revisionism, leading to serious consequences.

In recent years, the Japanese government has markedly strengthened its strategic communication concerning international public opinion, national image and historical perception while increasingly regarding the information space as an important component of national security competition. At the same time, AI is being applied to public opinion monitoring, information analysis, the identification of disinformation and the assessment of communication effectiveness. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs' fiscal 2026 budget documents explicitly refer to responding to "narrative information warfare, including that concerning historical perception," requiring the strengthening of information collection, analysis and dissemination, as well as greater use of emerging technologies like AI. Although there is currently no direct evidence that the Japanese government has already directly organized the use of AI to distort the history of its aggression against China, the risk of a future institutionalized convergence between these trends cannot be overlooked.

Historical perception has long been an important issue in the Japanese government's external communications. Although the Japanese government's official position differs from the historical denialism of the far right, Japanese authorities have long maintained their own one-sided interpretations of issues like the death toll of the Nanjing Massacre, the "comfort women" issue and responsibility for colonial rule while continuously strengthening their efforts to disseminate these interpretations abroad. If AI were eventually used for audience profiling, large-scale content generation and targeted dissemination, the Japanese government would not need to deny history openly. By selectively presenting historical materials, highlighting interpretations favorable to Japan, downplaying its responsibility for aggression or amplifying narratives that portray historical issues as inherently "contested," it could exert an influence on international public opinion that is more subtle and difficult to detect than traditional forms of historical revisionism.

In this regard, China must remain highly vigilant. It is necessary to continue monitoring potential Japanese government involvement, remain alert to the allocation and use of strategic communication budgets, and be wary of historical perceptions being further incorporated into so-called cognitive warfare and information warfare frameworks. Particular attention should be paid to whether AI, currently used primarily as a tool for information analysis, gradually expands into large-scale content generation and targeted communication.