OpenAI reveals the use of AI in influencer campaigns
Technology company OpenAI has published a report highlighting how its artificial intelligence (AI) tools have been used to influence political discourse and execute covert propaganda. According to the report, several campaigns from countries including Russia, China, Iran and Israel have used OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool to spread deceptive content on the Internet (https://www.softcatala.org/resum-de- texts-in-Catalan/).
The report highlights that OpenAI has dismantled five covert influence operations in the past three months. These operations used OpenAI’s AI models to generate content that sought to influence public opinion. Despite this, none of the campaigns managed to reach a large audience.
Various countries and organizations involved
The OpenAI report identifies several specific cases of AI being used for propaganda. Notable among them are two Russian operations that focused on disseminating content about Ukraine and that operated both on the Internet and on the Telegram messaging platform. It also mentions an Israeli political company that ran a network of fake social media accounts to spread content accusing American student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza of being anti-Semitic. In addition, Chinese and Iranian operations seeking to influence public opinion on issues such as China, Israel and the United States have been detected (https://www.softcatala.org/resum-de-textos-en -Catalan/).
Content generated by influence operations
Influence operations used AI to generate content with the goal of manipulating public opinion. This content covered topics such as the war in Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza, elections in India, and politics in Europe and the United States. Attackers used techniques such as generating content with language errors, mixing new content with old, and generating replies to their own posts to simulate engagement and generate more impact.
Conclusion
The OpenAI report highlights the influence of AI on political discourse and the spread of misleading content. It is important to be aware of these practices to be able to discern and evaluate the information we consume on the Internet (https://www.softcatala.org/resum-de-textos-en-catala/).