OpenAI bans Russian and Iranian accounts

OpenAI announced on Thursday it banned accounts from Russia and Iran using its AI tools for influence operations across multiple countries. The operatives claimed they got false narratives into news outlets.

Russians targeted Latin America

Russian operatives used ChatGPT mainly to write reports detailing their work to superiors. Their campaigns targeted countries in Latin America and aimed at undermining support for Ukraine and influencing local politics.

Peru school event sparked political response

Russian operatives impersonated a regional educational authority in Peru and tricked schools into organizing activities about Ukraine featuring Stepan Bandera. A Polish member of the European Parliament responded by suggesting a ban on Bandera supporters.

Russians created fake think tank

Russian internal memos created with ChatGPT claimed operatives ran a fake think tank in Latin America and recruited unwitting researchers to interview experts and compose reports.

Iranians published nearly one hundred articles

Iranian operatives used ChatGPT to push content in Persian and English, creating seven fake authors to pitch articles to small media outlets worldwide.They published almost one hundred articles this way, focusing on the U.S.

Fake authors placed articles in real outlets

Iranian fake authors published articles in outlets including Daily Kos and the U.K.-based Middle East Monitor.

AI made fake content look authentic

Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University's Watt Family Innovation Center Media Forensics Hub, said AI helped operatives create language that looked and felt authentic enough for legitimate outlets to publish, something Iranian operations would have…

“AI was valuable to them above and beyond just being a shortcut. It helped them create language that looked and felt and read authentic to the point where it was being published by legitimate outlets.”