Forensic linguists use Ki technique to identify Qanon conspirators

Forensic linguists use Ki technique to identify Qanon conspirators

Washington, 2/22/2022

Forensic linguists have used an AI technique to identify South African software developer Paul Furber and congressional candidate Ron Watkins as the likely authors of the QAnon conspiracy movement, according to a New York Times report. A team from France ran posts on social media through an AI system to find recognizable patterns in the writing. The so-called AI “stylometry” approach is similar to the way a facial recognition system learns a person’s biometric features.

According to the NY Times, the system linked both Furber and Arizona candidate Watkins to early writings by Q.

The earliest postings on 4chan in late 2017 were likely a collaboration between Furber and Watkins. It appears that Furber may have been the first to post Q conspiracy theories before Watkins eventually took over.

The findings were confirmed by another team of Swiss researchers who used software to break down Q posts into three-character patterns and track how often they were repeated.

Furber and Watkins rejected the accusations.

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