OpenAI says it shut down a ChatGPT account linked to a person associated with Chinese law enforcement after it found signs of a coordinated influence operation.
In a new threat disruption update, OpenAI says the user’s activity pointed to what it described as a well-resourced effort to run covert influence operations against domestic and foreign targets.
OpenAI says the account attempted to use ChatGPT to help plan a covert influence operation aimed at Japan’s prime minister, but the model refused.
The company says the same account also used ChatGPT to edit periodic status reports about the broader campaign, which the user described as “cyber special operations.”
According to OpenAI, those updates suggest Chinese law enforcement ultimately carried out an operation targeting the prime minister without using ChatGPT, and also referenced earlier operations as part of a wider push to suppress dissent and silence critics online and offline, inside China and abroad.
OpenAI says the user described a large-scale effort involving at least hundreds of staff, thousands of fake accounts across many platforms, and the use of locally deployed AI models, especially Chinese ones.
The tactics described included mass posting, filing abusive reports to get dissidents’ social media accounts taken down, forging documents and impersonating US officials to intimidate critics.
“This effort appears to be large-scale, resource-intensive and sustained, engaging at least hundreds of staff, thousands of fake accounts across scores of platforms, and the use of locally-deployed AI models, especially Chinese ones.”
OpenAI says its open-source analysis identified online activity consistent with some of the tactics the user described, and that the targeting extended beyond China to dissidents and critics around the world.
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