Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI reports Russian and Iranian influence operations
OpenAI said it had identified Russian and Iranian influence operations that used false identities to place material in online outlets and then banned the ChatGPT accounts tied to them.
- OpenAI said it found one Russian operation and one Iranian operation, and it banned the ChatGPT accounts linked to them.
- OpenAI said both operations used fake identities to place content in media outlets rather than relying on social media campaigns.
- OpenAI said the Russian operation, Dark Clark, targeted Ukraine and local politics across Latin America.
- OpenAI said the Iranian operation, Bogus Bylines, used seven fake journalists to place nearly 100 articles about the US-Iran conflict.
- OpenAI said both operations used AI mainly for internal reporting and for adapting propaganda into different languages.
OpenAI said its investigation identified two influence operations, one it linked to Russia and one to Iran. It said the accounts tied to them were removed from ChatGPT.
The Russian campaign, Dark Clark, was described by OpenAI as a disinformation effort aimed at Ukraine and politics in Latin America. OpenAI said it used false identities, including a fabricated think-tank persona, and that local staff may have been involved without knowing it.
OpenAI said fabricated audio and documents from Dark Clark led to fact-checks and official denials in Ecuador and Peru. It also said the operation received a category 5 rating on its Breakout Scale after politicians reacted to the material.
The Iranian campaign, Bogus Bylines, used seven fake journalists to place nearly 100 articles about the US-Iran conflict in outlets around the world. OpenAI said social media comments linked to the operation drew little attention, and that AI was used mainly to help with internal reporting and language adaptation.
Named in this story
Companies
- OpenAI
- said its investigation found the operations and banned the linked accounts
Governments and agencies
- Russia
- the country named by the source as linked to Dark Clark
- Iran
- the country named by the source as linked to Bogus Bylines
Products and systems
- ChatGPT
- hosted the accounts that OpenAI said it banned
- Dark Clark
- the Russian influence operation that spread disinformation across Latin America
- Bogus Bylines
- the Iranian influence operation that used fake journalists to place articles
- Breakout Scale
- OpenAI’s rating system used to classify the Dark Clark campaign
Places
- Ukraine
- was a target of the Dark Clark operation
- Latin America
- the region where Dark Clark spread disinformation
- Ecuador
- was one of the countries where fabricated material prompted denials
- Peru
- was one of the countries where fabricated material prompted denials
How the source tells it
Mostly neutral reporting, with a brief alarmed note created by the scale rating and the claims of political destabilisation.
- alarm the report used a high severity rating and described political destabilisation