Russian pranksters tricked three OpenAI natsec and policy executives into a video meeting by posing as Ukrainian officials; OpenAI says it "acted internally" (Sam Biddle/The Intercept)
“We want to have as deep a relationship as we possibly can with Ukraine. But it may not be possible to get to where we want to be straight away."
A Russian comedy duo tricked three senior staff members from OpenAI, a leading artificial intelligence company, into a conversation about providing military support to Ukraine. The pranksters, known as Vovan and Lexus, posed as officials from Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service. The meeting was recorded and uploaded to Rumble, where it was widely shared.
During the 17-minute call, the participants discussed potential offensive military AI capabilities OpenAI could provide to Ukraine. The company's officials, including Sasha Baker, Caroline Zier, and Ben Crampton, expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of partnering with Ukraine, but acknowledged the challenges and reluctance within the company to engage in offensive uses of AI technology.
OpenAI took swift action to verify the authenticity of the call and prevent similar incidents in the future.
Written by urgent.news from The Intercept's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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