OpenAI disrupts covert influence operationstargeting India’s ongoing Lok Sabha Elections
NEW DELHI :
OPENAI, the organisation
behind ChatGPT has disrupted the covert influence campaigns that were generating
content about the Gaza conflict, as well as the Indian elections.
The OpenAI stated that in
the past three months, it has
disrupted covert influence
operations that attempted to
employ artificial intelligence
(AI) models to promote the
actions of dishonest and abusiveindividualsontheInternet.
Among these were efforts
connected to operators in
China, Iran, Russia (two networks),andacommercialcompany in Israel.
TheIsraelicommercialcompany, with content in Hebrew
and English languages, first
catered to audiences in
Canada, the US, and Israel.
However, in early
May, the organisation turned its
attentiontoIndia,
p r oducing
English-language
online articles
and social media
posts that were
critical of the ruling BJP party,
OpenAI highlighted in their
report“AIandCovertInfluence
Operations: Latest Trends.”
“Thisoperationwasdivided
into a number of topical campaigns, most of which were
loosely associated with the
Gaza conflict and the broader
question of relations between
individuals of Jewish and
Muslim faith. In May, we disrupted some activity focused
on the Indian elections less
than 24 hours after it began,”
the report stated.
“Finally, in May, thenetwork
began generating comments
that focused on India, criticised the ruling BJP party and
praised the opposition
Congressparty.Sometimes,the
network appears to have
flipped its accounts from one
topic to another- for example,
accounts thathadearlierposted about Canada switched
focus to the USA, India or the
Histadrut(ormore thanoneof
these),” it added.
The report further
underlinedthatsome
ofthecontentposted
on social media was
inreplytoprominent
western figures.
“Some of the content created by this
network was posted
on social media in
reply to prominent
Western figures on
bothsidesofthepolitical spectrum. These replies generally
bore no relationto the original
post. For example, one comment about Qatar “buying up”
Americawaspostedinreply to
a post about former President
Trump’smusicalpreferences,”the report read.
The Lok Sabha elections arebeing held in India acrossseven phases. The countingof votes will happen onJune 4.