OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, claimed that an Israel-based company tried to generate comments against ruling BJP in India during May, allegedly to interfere with the 18th Lok Sabha elections in the country with the use of AI but they were able to act on it within 24 hours.
A report published by OpenAI stated that a political campaign management firm called STOIC, based in Israel, created some content related to the Indian elections as well as the Gaza conflict but the company's swift action led to no significant audience increase.
They added, "In May, we disrupted some activity focused on the Indian elections less than 24 hours after it began."
OpenAI said it banned a cluster of accounts operated from Israel that were being used to generate and edit content for an influence operation that spanned X, Facebook, Instagram, websites, and YouTube.
"This operation targeted audiences in Canada, the United States and Israel with content in English and Hebrew. In early May, it began targeting audiences in India with English-language content." And they did not elaborate on this anymore.
How Have Indian Ministers Reacted?
Minister of Sate for Electronics & Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar commented on the report, saying, "It is absolutely clear and obvious that @BJP4India was and is the target of influence operations, misinformation and foreign interference, being done by and/or on behalf of some Indian political parties."
"This is very dangerous threat to our democracy. It is clear vested interests in India and outside are clearly driving this and needs to be deeply scrutinized/investigated and exposed. My view at this point is that these platforms could have released this much earlier, and not so late when elections are ending," he added.
OpenAI has mentioned that it is committed to developing safe and broadly beneficial AI, "Our investigations into suspected covert influence operations (IO) are part of a broader strategy to meet our goal of safe AI deployment."
OpenAI said it is committed to enforcing policies that prevent abuse and to improving transparency around AI-generated content. That is especially true with respect to detecting and disrupting covert influence operations (IO), which attempt to manipulate public opinion or influence political outcomes without revealing the true identity or intentions of the actors behind them.
"In the last three months, we have disrupted five covert IO that sought to use our models in support of deceptive activity across the internet. As of May 2024, these campaigns do not appear to have meaningfully increased their audience engagement or reach as a result of our services," it said.
What Is Operation Zero Zeno?
Describing its operations, OpenAI said activity by a commercial company in Israel called STOIC was disrupted. Only the activity was disrupted, not the company.
They said that they nicknamed this operation Zero Zeno, for the founder of the stoic school of philosophy.
They claimed, "The people behind Zero Zeno used our models to generate articles and comments that were then posted across multiple platforms, notably Instagram, Facebook, X, and websites associated with this operation."
The content posted by these various operations focused on a wide range of issues, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza, the Indian elections, politics in Europe and the United States, and criticisms of the Chinese government by Chinese dissidents and foreign governments.
OpenAI said it takes a multi-pronged approach to combating abuse of its platform including monitoring and disrupting threat actors, including state-aligned groups and sophisticated, persistent threats.
"We invest in technology and teams to identify and disrupt actors like the ones we are discussing here, including leveraging AI tools to help combat abuses," they stated.
It works with others in the AI ecosystem and highlights potential misuses of AI and share the learning with the public.
