OpenAI users in Russia, Iran used models to push political agenda online, in media

Reported by The Hill. The paragraphs below are the opening of that article, reproduced word for word — not a summary, and not the whole piece.

OpenAI banned several accounts associated with two propaganda operations based in Iran and Russia, respectively, it confirmed Thursday — the latter of which the tech company said had the greatest reach it has recorded since it began reporting on and disrupting such schemes.

The influence operations used OpenAI models alongside “more traditional techniques and technologies to support sophisticated ‘false front’ entities,” and in turn, covertly promote the two countries’ political agendas. The plots involved the use of AI to create and spread fake news stories, as well as operate a fraudulent think tank.

“They used those entities to launder geopolitical, conflict-related messaging into their target audiences,” OpenAI wrote. “The Iranian operation included a stable of seven ‘journalist’ personas which it used to pitch long-form articles to small and medium online outlets around the world; the Russian operation appears to have co-opted unwitting people in Latin America to run a ‘think tank’ on the ground.”

The tech firm noted that the operations were “trying a range of different tactics to achieve their goals”; the Iranian operation generated social media comments regarding the U.S.’s war with the Islamic Republic while the Russian operation created fake “leaked” documents and audio scripts — including some that “undermine[d] recruitment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

The Russian operation, which OpenAI referred to as “Dark Clark” after a fake persona created for the scheme, also “fed into public tensions between Ukraine and Poland.” As part of the plot, they generated reports tied to the “Social Research Center,” a faux think tank that recruited employees throughout Latin America and tricked institutions throughout the region.