Chinese bad actors are using ChatGPT for malicious purposes – generating social media posts to sow political division across the US and seeking information on military technology, OpenAI said.
An organized China-linked operation, in one such incident dubbed “Uncle Spam,” used ChatGPT to generate social media posts that were supportive and critical of contentious topics related to US politics – and then posted both versions of the comments from separate accounts, the company said in a report released Thursday.
“This appears likely designed to exploit existing political divisions rather than to promote a specific ideological stance,” OpenAI wrote in the report, describing what is known as an influence operation.
OpenAI said it followed Meta’s lead to disrupt this operation, after the social media conglomerate discovered the actors were posting at hours through the day consistent with a work day in China.
The actors also used ChatGPT to make logos for their social media accounts that supported fake organizations – mainly creating personas of US veterans critical of President Trump, like a so-called “Veterans For Justice” group.
These users also tried to request code from ChatGPT that they could use to extract personal data from social media platforms like X and Bluesky, OpenAI said.
While the number of these operations has jumped, they had relatively little impact as these social media accounts typically had small followings, OpenAI said.
Another group of likely Chinese actors used ChatGPT to create polarizing comments on topics like USAID funding cuts and tariffs, which were then posted across social media sites.
In the comments of a TikTok video about USAID funding cuts, one of these accounts wrote: “Our goodwill was exploited. So disappointing.”
Another post on X took the opposite stance: “$7.9M allocated to teach Sri Lankan journalists to avoid binary-gender language. Is this the best use of development funds?”
These actors made posts on X appearing to justify USAID cuts as a means of offsetting the tariffs.
“Tariffs make imported goods outrageously expensive, yet the government splurges on overseas aid. Who’s supposed to keep eating?” one post said.
Another read: “Tariffs are choking us, yet the government is spending money to ‘fund’ foreign politics.”
In another China-linked operation, users posed as professionals based in Europe or Turkey working for nonexistent European news outlets.
They engaged with journalists and analysts on social media platforms like X, and offered money in exchange for information on the US economy and classified documents, all while using ChatGPT to translate their requests.
OpenAI said it also banned ChatGPT accounts associated with several bad actors who have been publicly linked to the People’s Republic of China.
These accounts asked ChatGPT for help with software development and for research into US military networks and government technology.
OpenAI regularly releases reports on malicious activity across its platform, including reports on fake content for websites and social media platforms and attempts to create damaging malware.