Artificial intelligence company OpenAI announced on August 16 that it has disrupted what it said is a “covert Iranian influence operation” that is using its popular ChatGPT software to generate content aimed at influencing public opinion in the run-up to the US presidential election. 

The company stated that it had "banned accounts linked to an Iranian influence operation using ChatGPT to generate content focused on multiple topics, including the US presidential campaign." Despite claiming the attacks were of Iranian origin, the organisation has failed to show any further information to claim the source of the websites, which have only come online from May 2024.

However, OpenAI said that they have "seen no indication that this content reached a meaningful audience," in other words the X accounts and websites appear to have only a trickle of views and are immediately noticeable as a AI-written content.

According to OpenAI, the operation, identified as “Storm-2035”, utilised ChatGPT for two primary purposes: "generating long-form articles and shorter social media comments." The content was then disseminated through various social media accounts and websites, including Teorator,com.

A second website mentioned by OpenAI as a potential Iranian influence site created in July 2024, "savannahtime.com" aims to target the liberal end of the US political spectrum, with articles up to August 18, however that site appears to have lifted its imagery from other websites including the Boston Globe, Bne IntelliNews learned. 

"We identified a dozen accounts on X and one on Instagram that were involved in this operation. Some of the X accounts posed as progressives, and others as conservatives," OpenAI wrote on its blog.

Bne IntelliNews could not verify the reference to the tweets on X, with internal investigations showing no accounts currently active with those redacted comments reported by OpenAI.

OpenAI reported that it had limited impact, despite potentially overplaying the role of the website and accounts, whilst also not revealing the IP addresses to ascertain that it originated from Iran.

"The majority of social media posts that we identified received few or no likes, shares, or comments," the company stated.

OpenAI said its commitment to preventing such abuses, stating, "OpenAI is committed to preventing abuse and improving transparency around AI-generated content. This includes our work to detect and stop covert influence operations (IO), which try to manipulate public opinion or influence political outcomes while hiding the true identity or intentions of the actors behind them."

Tehran tech sector is unimpressed

OpenAI’s announcement that Iran is behind political influence campaigns has caused panic among the tech community in Iran, which is already facing hurdles, including a lack of good internet and no financial connections to the outside world.

In this latest announcement by the company, OpenAi did not say whether it had shared its user data with Microsoft to discover the origins of the accounts. 

One developer in Tehran, upon hearing the news, told bne IntelliNews, “Well, this doesn’t bode well; the US constantly makes up excuses to disconnect our developers from the World Wide Web” he added, “My project is mainly based on OpenAi.”

Several tech websites in Iran have noted the news with titles including "OpenAI blocks Iranian users," however, sites like ITAnalyze.ir noted that there was no proof the users were Iranian.  

The site wrote on August 17, "These anti-Iranian claims are at the same time that Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations announced in an email that the Iranian government has no desire or motivation to interfere in the US presidential election."

Iranians make up one of the largest groups of software developers in the world and are behind several significant technological innovations over the years in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, including help found Google and eBay, among several other innovations.

Despite this, many, before leaving Iran to find fortune, often struggle with the poor state of internet connections in the country, living permanently on virtual private networks (VPNs) to conduct business and access the world wide web as many popular sites, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Telegram are currently blocked in the country by the state. 

Previous announcements by Microsoft

Tech giant Microsoft sounded the alarm on Iran's increasing attempts to sway the upcoming US presidential election, according to a report released on August 8.

The Microsoft Threat Analysis Centre (MTAC) has observed a surge in activities by groups linked to the Iranian government, aimed at influencing American voters and gathering intelligence on political campaigns, in the first of its kind statement.

"In recent weeks, groups connected with the Iranian government have upped two kinds of activity," said Clint Watts, General Manager of MTAC.

"First, they've laid the groundwork for influence campaigns on trending election-related topics and begun to activate these campaigns in an apparent effort to stir up controversy or sway voters – especially in swing states."

“Sefid Flood, an Iran-linked influence actor, began staging for influence operations in the 2024 US elections following the Iranian New Year in late March. Sefid Flood specialises in impersonating social and political activist groups in a target audience to stoke chaos,” the report noted it added that Iran undermines trust in authorities, and sows doubt about election integrity.