Russian Influence Network Used ChatGPT to Masquerade as Academic Experts

In brief

• OpenAI banned ChatGPT accounts it assessed as very likely originating in Russia.
• The accounts promoted an ostensible Israeli institute that published copied research under academics’ names.
• Most posts received few views, though associated Telegram channels had up to 20,000 followers each.

A network originating in Russia used ChatGPT to promote an organization that presented itself as an academic institute, according to an OpenAI report published Wednesday.

OpenAI said it banned a group of accounts whose operators used Russian-language prompts to generate social media posts and comments, mostly in English. They also instructed ChatGPT to conceal signs that the content originated in Russia.

“Although the campaign appears to have reached relatively small audiences, its elaborate construction distinguishes it from other Russia-linked influence operations we have disrupted since the start of the war in Ukraine,” the company wrote.

Because ChatGPT is unavailable in Russia, OpenAI said the group used virtual private networks (VPNs) to disguise their location and access the service.

The group used ChatGPT to promote the International Burke Institute, which claimed to be an Israel-based expert group, through official-looking profiles and accounts posing as regular users. OpenAI found that 34 of 36 articles it reviewed on the institute’s website were copied, and some were credited to academics who did not write them.