China Covert Campaign Exposed After ChatGPT Diary Leak

A sprawling Chinese influence operation was accidentally revealed when a law enforcement official used ChatGPT like a diary to document the campaign, according to a new report from OpenAI.

The operation targeted Chinese dissidents abroad with intimidation tactics, including operatives disguising themselves as US immigration officials to warn a dissident their statements had broken the law.

They also used forged US county court documents to try to get social media accounts taken down and faked a dissident’s death with a phony obituary and gravestone photos.

OpenAI says the effort involved hundreds of operators and thousands of fake accounts across multiple platforms.

The report comes amid escalating US-China competition over AI supremacy, with the Pentagon locked in a standoff with another AI company over safeguards.

OpenAI banned the user after discovering the activity and published the findings to expose the covert campaign.