OpenAI says Iran, Russia influence ops busted

WASHINGTON: OpenAI on Thursday said it had shut down two influence operations — from Russia and Iran — that used ChatGPT to promote fake journalist personas and run a "think-tank" to covertly spread anti-Ukraine propaganda.

OpenAI's report is the latest illustration of how state actors can exploit widely available AI tools to spread sophisticated propaganda against adversaries on a mass scale.

The American AI giant said it had banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts originating in Russia and Iran that were used to support "false front" entities for geopolitical and conflict-related messaging.

The Iranian operation involved seven "journalist" profiles, each purporting to be from a Western country, including the United States, which were used to place long-form articles in media outlets around the world.

"We identified almost 100 articles published or syndicated under the operation's bylines across roughly a dozen online outlets around the world," OpenAI said.

"These were small to medium outlets, generally focused on international affairs, geopolitics, and events in the Middle East."

The earliest article identified by OpenAI was published in July 2025 and the latest in October 2026, with the frequency of reports increasing after the US-Iran war broke out earlier this year.

The operation also generated social media comments on topics related to the US-Iran war, it added.

One of the personas, named Ervin B. Hoskins, whose bio claimed he was "an American freelance writer", had social media accounts across technology platforms, including Elon Musk's X and Meta-owned Instagram.

X's transparency information showed the account was connected via a "West Asia android app", while Instagram's transparency information showed the account was based in Iran, according to screenshots provided by OpenAI.

Both accounts appeared to have been suspended.

The Russian operation co-opted "unwitting people" in Latin America to run a "think-tank" called the Social Research Center (SRC), which was used for covert activities aimed at undermining Ukraine's reputation in the region and influencing local politics, the company said.

"The available evidence indicates that the SRC's employees in Latin America were not aware that they were working for a Russian group," OpenAI said.

"The SRC appears to have produced a majority of original content via its co-opted staff. This stands out as the most complex attempt to run a front identity that we've disrupted over the past two and a half years."