OpenAI says suspected fake China-linked accounts tried to sway the debate about US data centers

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China abused existing political flashpoints

Flags of the People's Republic of China, hanging in a park during National Day in Beijing, China
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
  • China used ChatGPT to generate comments, posts, and cartoons
  • The content capitalized on issues surrounding data centers and tariffs
  • The material was shared on social media to exacerbate existing tensions

OpenAI has banned a number of accounts that it says were linked to social media influence campaigns surrounding the growing opposition to data centers and President Trump’s tariffs on foreign imports.

The two campaigns, named “Data Center Bandwagon” and “Tech and Tariffs”, used ChatGPT to generate posts, comments and cartoons intended to sow political division in the US.

China’s intention was to deepen the divide by drumming up online engagement with AI generated posts, OpenAI said, but the campaigns failed to gain any traction.

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China exacerbates existing tensions

The negative effects of data center construction and the additional costs imposed on consumers by tariffs are existing areas of contention within US society, but they weren’t narratives invented by China.

Instead, according to OpenAI, these campaigns were designed to increase the scale of the issues and broaden their visibility among online groups and on social media sites such as X.

It is the first time that OpenAI models have been used in a Chinese foreign influence campaign, a spokesperson told Axios.

OpenAI said that a Chinese government contractor was responsible for the data center campaign, which shared posts drawing on existing concerns surrounding power grid capacity and electricity prices in areas where data centers were planned or constructed.

OpenAI’s account of a foreign country using AI to capitalize on political issues adds some limited validity to recent Republican claims that the entire data center opposition movement being a Chinese influence campaign, but does little to address the very real, tangible effects that data center projects are having on local communities in the US.

A group of Republicans recently called upon FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate anti-data center sentiment, alleging that the rising tide of opposition is being fueled by China, as the inclusion of similar phrasing around water usage, energy constraints, transparency surrounding approval, and utility bill use “language too similar to be coincidental”.

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Benedict Collins
Benedict Collins
Senior Writer, Security

Benedict is a Senior Security Writer at TechRadar Pro, where he has specialized in covering the intersection of geopolitics, cyber-warfare, and business security.

Benedict provides detailed analysis on state-sponsored threat actors, APT groups, and the protection of critical national infrastructure, with his reporting bridging the gap between technical threat intelligence and B2B security strategy.

Benedict holds an MA (Distinction) in Security, Intelligence, and Diplomacy from the University of Buckingham Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS), with his specialization providing him with a robust academic framework for deconstructing complex international conflicts and intelligence operations, and the ability to translate intricate security data into actionable insights.

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