Iranian ChatGPT accounts blocked due to US election propaganda

• OpenAI has identified and blocked several Iranian accounts that used ChatGPT in an influence operation focused on the US elections.
• The people behind these accounts used the AI ​​tool to create contradictory content that targeted Democrats and Republicans alike.
• ChatGPT was asked to rewrite news articles from legitimate sources and other people’s comments on social media.

Artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI has suspended several Iranian accounts linked to a suspected covert influence operation (IO) related to the upcoming US presidential election, which used ChatGPT to generate content for various social media accounts and websites. OpenAI identified this operation as “Storm-2035.”

The blocked accounts generated content on a variety of topics, including the US presidential election, the rights of Latinx communities in the US written in Spanish and English, and global events such as the Gaza conflict, Israel’s participation in the Olympic Games, politics in Venezuela, or Scottish independence.

The left-wing websites Nio Thinker, Savannah Time, Even Politics, Teorator and Westland Sun were identified as part of this IO.

An unnamed Iranian group had launched several fake news domains aimed at liberal and conservative voters, including Nio Thinker and Savannah Time, which used artificial intelligence to siphon off content from legitimate news sites.

OpenAI said its ChatGPT tool was used to generate comments in English and Spanish for 12 X accounts and one Instagram account via ChatGPT, and the actors asked AI models to rewrite comments made by other social media users. They also posted about fashion and beauty.

According to the report, there is no evidence that this content reached a significant audience.

The Iranian state-backed threat actor APT42, which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been confirmed to have targeted high-profile accounts of both political campaigns in connection with the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

In May, Iranian government-backed hackers with minimal access privileges broke into the account of a district-level official and a few weeks later attempted to spear-phish into the account of a key official.

Meanwhile, Tehran’s international organizations are targeting European NATO member states, frightening the Israeli population, fomenting Shiite unrest in the Gulf and repressing perceived opponents of the regime.

The U.S. State Department has identified six IRGC-affiliated Iranian security officials reportedly responsible for cyberattacks on U.S. water utilities in 2023 and is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification or location of these individuals.