What the company reported
The Decoder reported on October 9 that OpenAI exposed one Russian and one Iranian influence operation and banned the ChatGPT accounts involved. The company’s investigation says both used fake identities to place content in legitimate media, rather than running social-media campaigns. OpenAI had previously uncovered a different Russian campaign built on social media and a fake think tank.
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The two operations
The Russian operation is called Dark Clark. The report says it spread disinformation across Latin America to discredit Ukraine and to destabilize local politics. The actors controlled a think tank through a fictitious persona and likely involved local staffers without their knowledge. Fabricated audio files and documents triggered fact-checks and official denials in Ecuador and Peru. OpenAI rates it category 5 out of 6 on the Breakout Scale because politicians reacted to the content. The report calls it the first category 5 case in two and a half years of the company’s reporting.
The Iranian operation is called Bogus Bylines. Seven fake journalists placed nearly 100 articles about the U.S.-Iran conflict in online outlets worldwide. The actors also generated social-media comments, and those comments gained almost no traction.
[1]Where AI was used
The report says both operations used AI mainly for internal reporting and for adapting propaganda into different languages. This article does not describe how the content entered news outlets.
The Decoder cites OpenAI’s investigation report. This piece does not include that report, and it does not spell out how category 5 is defined on the scale.
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