OpenAI Disrupts Russian ChatGPT Psyop Posing as Fake Israeli Think Tank With 20,000 Followers
37d agoA network of ChatGPT accounts was banned after OpenAI traced a series of pro-Kremlin social media posts to Russian operators. The actors used VPNs to bypass geographic restrictions on the AI tool to promote the International Burke Institute, a fake Israeli think tank, on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Substack and Telegram. An OpenAI review of 36 articles on the institute's website found that 34 had been stolen from other sources.
The operation promoted a fake "sovereignty" index that rated Russia above the US and EU and falsely claimed that academics Noam Chomsky and Francis Fukuyama were experts. The network operated Telegram channels, including one called American Observer, with audiences of 10,000 to 20,000 followers. The campaign was exposed after one post used the phrase "the Svetofor coalition" to describe Germany's government, a term not used by native English speakers.
Key sources
- SOURCE@efischberger“Calling itself the International Burke Institute, it has a website, invented experts, and its own index ranking countries by "sovereignty"”x.com
- SUPPORT@efischberger“OpenAI reviewed 36 articles on the site and found that 34 were stolen from real sources”x.com
- SUPPORT@efischberger“using a phrase, "the Svetofor coalition," that no native English speaker would ever use to describe Germany's government”x.com
- SUPPORT@efischberger“Some of these channels have 10,000 to 20,000 followers”x.com
- SUPPORT@thehackersnews“generated posts promoting the International Burke Institute across Substack, Telegram, X, Facebook and LinkedIn”x.com
- SOURCE@zeffmax“a website containing copied and misattributed academic work, a “sovereignty” index that cast Russia in a favourable light”x.com