OpenAI on Thursday said it shut down two influence operations — from Russia and Iran — that used ChatGPT to push fake journalist personas and run a “think-tank” to covertly peddle anti-Ukraine propaganda.
OpenAI’s report is the latest illustration of how state actors can easily exploit widely available AI tools to peddle sophisticated propaganda against adversaries on a mass scale.
The American AI giant said it banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts that originated in Russia and Iran and were used to support “false front” entities for geopolitical and conflict-related messaging. The Iranian operation involved seven “journalist” profiles, each purporting to be from Western countries including the United States, that were used to plant long-form articles in media outlets around the world. X’s transparency information showed the account was connected via a “West Asia android app” and Instagram’s transparency information showed the account was based in Iran, according to screenshots provided by OpenAI. “The available evidence indicates that the SRC’s employees in Latin America were not aware that they were working for a Russian group,” OpenAI said.
