OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, said on Friday that it had found and banned “accounts linked to Iranian influence operations.” The accounts were allegedly using ChatGPT to “generate content focused on multiple topics, including the US presidential election,” OpenAI said in a statement.
The group is known as Storm-2035 and is known for trying to influence the election by creating fake news websites and sharing them on social media, according to Axios. According to a statement from OpenAI, the group used ChatGPT to “generate content focused on a variety of topics, including commentary about candidates on both sides of the U.S. presidential election, which they shared on their social media accounts and websites.”
The site generated content about major party presidential candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, as well as the Israeli invasion of Gaza, debates in Spanish and English about rights for Latino communities in the US, Venezuelan politics, and Scottish independence. Storm-2035 also created content about fashion and beauty, which OpenAI believes is an attempt to “appear more authentic” and “gain more followers.”
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However, OpenAI reported that the attempt did not achieve “meaningful audience engagement.”
“The majority of the social media posts we identified received few to no likes, shares, or comments,” OpenAI said. “Similarly, we found no indication that the web articles were being shared on social media.”
“Despite the decline in audience interest caused by this operation, we take seriously any attempt to use our service for foreign influence operations,” OpenAI said.
