Fake journalists, fake think tanks, real bylines: ChatGPT helps propaganda get a passport
Ourtake
Both campaigns used AI mostly for internal reporting and translation. The fake journalists still landed about 100 bylines.
What happened
OpenAI said it exposed a Russian and an Iranian influence operation and banned the ChatGPT accounts involved. The Russian campaign, Dark Clark, used a think tank run through a fictitious persona to spread fabricated audio and documents across Latin America, triggering fact-checks and official denials in Ecuador and Peru. The Iranian operation, Bogus Bylines, used seven fake journalists to place nearly 100 articles about the US-Iran conflict in outlets worldwide.