OpenAI says Russia and Iran used AI fake journalists and think tanks to influence Western media

OpenAI disclosed that it has shut down two influence operations from Russia and Iran that used AI tools like ChatGPT to fabricate journalist identities and covert think tanks, and successfully planted narratives in mainstream news media. The Russia-linked "Dark Clark" network focused on Latin American politics and culture, with its fictional persona Mia Clark packaged as the head of the Latin American think tank Social Research Center, producing content mainly to damage Ukraine's reputation in Latin America, and also intervening in political issues in Argentina and Bolivia; OpenAI called it the most sophisticated disguised-identity operation it has disrupted in the past two and a half years, and believes the think tank is actually controlled by Russia. The Iranian operation used similar tools to deliver articles about a US-Iran war, creating at least seven fake journalist identities, and published or republished nearly 100 articles under these bylines in about a dozen small and medium-sized international affairs media outlets, but with little engagement. OpenAI assesses impact on a scale of 1 to 6, rating the Russian operation as 5 and the Iranian operation as 4, significantly higher than most operations that have minimal impact.