{"id":925901,"date":"2026-10-09T00:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925901\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T00:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:24:13","slug":"iranian-operatives-used-ai-to-plant-fake-stories-in-multiple-us-media-outlets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925901\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian operatives used AI to plant fake stories in multiple US media outlets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Operatives in Iran used OpenAI models and fake personas to help plant news articles critical of the US war against Iran<\/a> in multiple US media outlets, OpenAI said on Thursday.\n <\/p>\n

\n About a dozen outlets around the world ran roughly 100 articles by seven fake journalists, OpenAI said in a blog post<\/a>. The firm said it banned ChatGPT accounts that were prompting the AI tool in Farsi to tweak articles and editorial pitches, and generate social media comments.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some of the AI-assisted articles had provocative titles, including, \u201cIs America\u2019s Iran Policy Being Privatized? The Jared Kushner Question,\u201d and \u201cThe Iran War and the Collapse of Western Moral Credibility.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s the latest example of AI agents playing a key role in the propaganda battles that coincide with the US and Israel\u2019s war with Iran. Young Iranians have also used AI to make viral Lego-themed videos mocking US leaders, while President Donald Trump has posted AI-generated videos depicting US strikes on Iran.\n <\/p>\n

\n None of the publications that ran the articles appear to be a major, mainstream news outlet, but some of them have sizable online followings. One of the outlets, Middle East Monitor, which is based in London, has almost two million followers on Facebook.\n <\/p>\n

\n Getting the anti-war narratives in front of a US audience could count as a successful information operation for whoever was behind it. Who that is, and whether they\u2019re affiliated with the Iranian government, is unclear, OpenAI said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe overall activity appeared consistent with a commercial actor running a for-hire influence campaign, but we are unable to identify the particular actor involved,\u201d the AI firm wrote in its blog.\n <\/p>\n

\n The article about Kushner and US foreign policy was published by the LA Progressive, which describes itself as an \u201cindependent, justice-driven publication\u201d based in Los Angeles. CNN has requested comment from LA Progressive.\n <\/p>\n

\n Daud Abdullah, Director of the Middle East Monitor, told CNN he will look into the articles OpenAI flagged and \u201ctake the appropriate action.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n After the articles published, the Iranian operatives asked ChatGPT to generate comments they could post on social media purporting to be people reacting to the articles, according to OpenAI.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe users asked for comments on topics such as missile strikes, ceasefires, and diplomatic maneuvering, specifying outputs that portrayed the US as the aggressor, Israel as an unreliable ally of the US, and Iran as a defiant but resilient victim,\u201d the blog says.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s remarkable that the Iranians managed to land their content in real media outlets, expanding the potential reach of their campaign,\u201d said Jessica Brandt, who ran the Office of the Director of National Intelligence\u2019s now-shuttered Foreign Malign Influence Center from 2023 to 2025.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019re witnessing AI enable foreign adversaries to better hide their hand, building more sophisticated false fronts than they might otherwise be able to in order to launder their content through authentic channels, leveraging those channels for reach,\u201d Brandt told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n OpenAI\u2019s findings show how AI is increasingly being used to shape perceptions of war. This spring, a false AI-assisted US intelligence report about a purported Chinese ship transporting nuclear components almost led the US military to board the ship, CNN previously reported<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Operatives in Iran used OpenAI models and fake personas to help plant news articles critical of the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-925901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}