OpenAI, the company that brings us ChatGPT, said on Friday that it discovered and banned “accounts associated with Iranian influence operations.” The accounts allegedly used ChatGPT to “generate content focused on multiple topics, including the U.S. presidential campaign,” OpenAI said in a statement.
The group, known as Storm-2035, is known for trying to influence elections by creating fake news websites and sharing them on social media, according to Axios. An OpenAI statement said the group used ChatGPT to “generate content focused on multiple topics, including commentary on candidates on both sides of the U.S. presidential election, and then share it across social media accounts and websites.”
It has produced content about both major party presidential candidates — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — as well as the Israeli invasion of Gaza, about the rights of the U.S. Latino community, Venezuelan politics and Scottish independence discussion in Spanish and English. Storm-2035 also created some fashion and beauty content, which OpenAI suspects was intended to “look more authentic” and “build a following.”
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However, OpenAI reported that the attempt failed to achieve “meaningful audience participation.”
“The majority of social media posts we found received few or no likes, shares or comments,” OpenAI said. “We also found no signs of web articles being shared on social media.”
“Despite the lack of meaningful audience engagement in this operation, we take seriously any efforts to use our services in foreign influence operations,” OpenAI said.