OpenAI says an Iranian group used ChatGPT to try to influence the U.S. election and increase polarization

OpenAI said Friday that an Iranian group used its ChatGPT platform to generate anti-U.S. propaganda content that was posted on websites and social networks with the aim of increasing polarization and negatively impacting the U.S. presidential election.

According to a report by The Washington Post, the sites and social media accounts crafted by the Iranian group were discovered by OpenAI after they published articles and opinions crafted with the help of ChatGPT.

The articles dealt, among other topics, about the Gaza conflict, the Olympics and the U.S. elections, especially about the candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

"The AI company banned the ChatGPT accounts associated with the Iranian efforts and said their posts had not gained widespread attention from social media users," the WaPo reported. "OpenAI found 'a dozen' accounts on X and one on Instagram that it linked to the Iranian operation and said all appeared to have been taken down after it notified those social media companies."

Ben Nimmo, a senior researcher with OpenAI's intelligence and investigations team, told the newspaper that the Iranian group's activity was the first case detected about an operation that was primarily aimed at influencing the U.S. election. The idea behind the articles, apparently, was to spread disinformation and critical content against the major candidates.

"Even though it doesn’t seem to have reached people, it’s an important reminder, we all need to stay alert but stay calm," the researcher said.

The situation comes after allegations by Microsoft and Google that Iranian groups have attempted to impact the upcoming November elections.

For example, recently, the Trump administration denounced a hack of its campaign communications and pointed against the Iranian regime as the main suspect.

"These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process," Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said. "On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high ranking official’ on the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential nominee."

In this particular case noted by OpenAI, the attack appeared to target both Democrats and Republicans.

On one of the websites discovered, Teorator, articles critical of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz were posted.

Meanwhile, critical pieces against Trump and other conservative figures such as Elon Musk were posted on another site called Even Politics.