OpenAI Says Russia, China, and Israel Are Using Its Tools for Foreign Influence Campaigns

OpenAI identified and removed five covert influence operations based in Russia, China, Iran and Israel that were using its artificial intelligence tools to manipulate public opinion, the company said on Thursday. In a new report, OpenAI detailed how these groups, some of which are linked to known propaganda campaigns, used the company's tools for a variety of "deceptive activities." These included generating social media comments, articles, and images in multiple languages, creating names and biographies for fake accounts, debugging code, and translating and proofreading texts. These networks focused on a range of issues, including defending the war in Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, criticizing Chinese dissidents, and commenting on politics in India, Europe, and the U.S. in their attempts to sway public opinion. While these influence operations targeted a wide range of online platforms, including X (formerly known as Twitter), Telegram, Facebook, Medium, Blogspot, and other sites, "none managed to engage a substantial audience" according to OpenAI analysts.