Babcock immersive training • Conducttr • Crisis simulation platform

This page showcases a short information operations scenario created for Babcock’s Immersive Training Experience (BITE) for the defence & security training event, ITEC. Information turmoil peaks in an occupied country during air attacks, affecting both the military headquarters and the civilian population. Various audiences and governments intervene to shape or misshape the information domain with their competing narratives, appealing to specific target audiences.

Scenario

A country already enduring Donovian military occupation is further affected by airstrikes, resulting in extensive damage to infrastructure and residential areas and forcing people to flee their homes. Reports from the region indicate casualties, deaths, and bodies, prompting public calls for rescue missions supported by the ICRC. Breaking news updates on the situation are being provided periodically.

Environment

The scenario was designed to replicate the information environment experienced by a J2 or InfoOps operative, that allows players to observe environment changes while immersed in a military command centre (known as Proteus), which replicates the sensory effects of an air strike.

Challenges and solutions

The main challenge was creating a demo that could convey the fast pace and complexity of clashing narratives interacting in a warfare scenario, yet remain concise. These challenges were overcome by generating a rapid pace of storm-initiating injects (information and disinformation from selected actors) and utilizing patterns of life to repost their content (creating a viral effect).

Artificial Intelligence for enhancing the scenario building

Conducttr’s AI played a crucial role in quickly facilitating the development of a scenario by assisting at various stages. Utilizing our Active eXercise System (AXS), it enabled the creation of cascading information from the scenario description. The process involved steps such as identifying the initiating incident, stakeholders, and appropriate communication channels. Utilizing the FIEMA framework allowed us to delineate strategic goals and target audiences, thereby refining our communication strategies. AI-generated content was carefully crafted to accurately reflect distinct traits and levels of empathy of real-world factions, ensuring that the scenario not only felt authentic but would also engage players in the experience.

Information turmoil

In a crisis, information flow is fast-paced. To enable observers to understand how the situation is evolving, we employed various breaking news clips along with a fictional political risk consultancy to publish analysis updates, thereby enhancing immersion in the simulation.

Viral posts

To mimic the dynamics of social media posts going viral, we used our pattern of life (PoL) feature together with our “custom data” feature (e.g. variables) to reference the initiating post.