In the last three months, OpenAI has disrupted five covert influence operations (IO) that attempted to exploit the company’s models for deceptive activities online. As of May 2024, these campaigns have not shown a substantial increase in audience engagement or reach due to OpenAI’s services.
OpenAI claims its commitment to designing AI models with safety in mind has often thwarted the threat actors’ attempts to generate desired content. Additionally, the company says AI tools have enhanced the efficiency of OpenAI’s investigations.
Detailed threat reporting by distribution platforms and the open-source community has significantly contributed to combating IO. OpenAI is sharing these findings to promote information sharing and best practices among the broader community of stakeholders.
In the past three months, OpenAI disrupted several IO operations using its models for various tasks, such as generating short comments, creating fake social media profiles, conducting open-source research, debugging simple code, and translating texts.
Specific operations disrupted include:
The content posted by these operations focused on various issues, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Gaza conflict, Indian elections, European and US politics, and criticisms of the Chinese government.
Despite these efforts, none of these operations showed a significant increase in audience engagement due to OpenAI’s models. Using Brookings’ Breakout Scale – which assesses the impact of covert IO – none of the five operations scored higher than a 2, indicating activity on multiple platforms but no breakout into authentic communities.
Investigations into these influence operations revealed several trends:
OpenAI’s investigations benefited from industry sharing and open-source research. Defensive measures include:
OpenAI says it remains dedicated to developing safe and responsible AI. This involves designing models with safety in mind and proactively intervening against malicious use.
While admitting that detecting and disrupting multi-platform abuses like covert influence operations is challenging, OpenAI claims it’s committed to mitigating the dangers.
(Photo by Chris Yang)
Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.
Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.
Source: artificialintelligence-news
