{
  "id": 8834120,
  "title": "Iran and China create first-of-their-kind autonomous AI influence campaigns",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/21/iran-and-china-create-first-of-their-kind-autonomous-ai-influence",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-21T03:52:20.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/iran-and-china-create-first-of-their-kind-autonomous-ai-influence-campaigns-10886860/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Iran, China, and Israeli groups pioneered novel AI-driven influence campaigns on social media, raising alarms among U.S. officials and security experts due to the swift and expansive nature of the campaigns, which required minimal human intervention. Leveraging freely available Chinese open-source AI models, these entities developed autonomous \"agents\" capable of independently generating and managing a network of fake social media accounts on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. With hundreds of these AI agents at their disposal, the entities rapidly flooded these fake accounts with false political and current affairs content, aiming to influence public opinion and stir controversy. Notably, safeguards preventing such actions were often disabled by the operators of these systems, according to U.S. officials and security researchers privy to the operations. Intelligence agencies, leading tech firms, and cybersecurity experts recognized these campaigns as state-backed, with Iran's initiative particularly alarming. The campaign targeted American audiences, using AI-generated accounts to pose as ordinary citizens from major cities, spreading memes and anti-Republican Party sentiments. The accounts amassed nearly 80,000 followers by the first half of the year. Additionally, two Israeli-backed campaigns were traced to the private firm IntelEye. A co-founder of IntelEye, Maor Sellek, stated that the firm utilized the AI models to conduct a safety experiment, asserting that IntelEye does not engage in influence campaigns.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [
    "Iran and China developed autonomous AI influence campaigns on social media.",
    "AI agents generated and managed fake accounts on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.",
    "U.S. officials and security experts deemed the campaigns state-backed and alarming."
  ],
  "editors_take": "This development indicates that state-backed actors can now deploy sophisticated, low-maintenance influence campaigns on social media, potentially changing the landscape of online information warfare and propaganda.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}