Iran spread anti-Israel, US disinformation to global media through fake journalists, OpenAI says
Beyond helping operators place content before wider audiences, OpenAI said AI enabled malicious actors to conduct operations with greater scale, efficiency, linguistic fluency, and editorial ability.
OpenAI has uncovered two influence operations, one originating in Iran and another in Russia, that manipulated global media through artificial intelligence. The campaigns aimed to spread anti-Israel and US disinformation, exploiting OpenAI's technology to create deceptive front entities. Both operations utilized "questionable or outright deceitful methodologies" to exaggerate their effectiveness, according to OpenAI.
Iran's campaign involved generating social media comments, creating seven fake journalist personas, and pitching long-form articles to media outlets. OpenAI rated the Iranian campaign a four on its six-point Influence Operation scale, indicating its success in placing content in mainstream media outlets. The fake journalists bore names such as Ervin B. Hoskins, Noah Lamington, Sophia Gonzalez, Michael Harrison, Ericka Feusier, Jenny Williams, and Alice Johnson.
All appeared as Western journalists writing on international politics, the Middle East, human rights, or conflict.
One article by "Noah Lamington" in International Policy Digest claimed political insecurity in Israel. Another article by "Sophia Gonzalez" in the News Register suggested diplomacy had become a weapon of war. "Ericka Feusier" wrote extensively on Iraq's insecurity and American unemployment on various websites. The articles mainly focused on the US-Iran war, with some addressing US domestic politics.
OpenAI found nearly 100 articles generated by this operation across syndicated publications and smaller media outlets globally.
The AI-generated content, predominantly online, reached millions of social media followers. Several fake journalists maintained social media accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram, or Threads, all operated from Iran or West Asia. Despite the campaign's success, AI-generated social media comments did not garner substantial engagement.
The Iranian operation ran from July 2025 to October 2026, increasing in activity following the US-Iran conflict. OpenAI suggested the operators were likely commercial actors running a for-hire influence campaign.
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