OpenAI says Iran, Russia used AI journalists, think tanks to influence Western media

What happened

OpenAI disclosed Thursday it shut down two influence operations from Russia and Iran that used ChatGPT and other AI tools to create fake journalist personas and covert think tanks that successfully planted stories and narratives in mainstream news publications. The two campaigns were rated 4 and 5 out of 6 for severity, the first time OpenAI has reported what it considers a high-impact influence campaigns. OpenAI is an artificial intelligence company based in San Francisco, and its products and services include ChatGPT.

One cluster of accounts, which OpenAI calls “Dark Clark,” is attributed to Russian actors. The network focused on influencing Latin American politics and culture.

Its name comes from Mia Clark, a fake AI persona the group presented as the leader of the Social Research Center, a supposed Latin American think tank used to seed propaganda in news reporting. The group’s content primarily focused on harming Ukraine’s reputation in Latin America, though it also became involved in hot-button political issues in Argentina and Bolivia.