Israeli Firm Tried to Influence Lok Sabha Elections 2024, Open AI Makes Big Claim

New Delhi: Ahe of Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 on June 4, US-based AI firm OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, has me an explosive claim, stating that y have disrupted efforts by an Israeli commercial company STOIC attempting to influence Indian elections by ‘peddling an anti-BJP agenda’. "We banned a cluster of accounts operated from Israel that were being used to generate and edit content for an influence operation that spanned X, Facebook, Instagram, websites, and YouTube," OpenAI said in its report titled 'AI and Covert Influence Operations: Latest Trends'.    

" network was operated by STOIC, a political campaign management firm in Israel. In early May, it ( influence operation by Israeli firm) began targeting audiences in India with English-language content," it said. operation OpenAI's models to "generate web articles and social media comments that were n posted across multiple platforms, notably Instagram, Facebook, and X", according to company.

"In May, we disrupted some activity focused on Indian elections less than 24 hours after it began," company stated furr. Moreover, OpenAI claimed that in May, network "began generating comments that focused on India, criticized ruling BJP party and praised opposition Congress party".

Israeli Firm Influencing Indian Elections: What Open AI Report Claims  

OpenAI report highlighted a campaign that employed AI for covert operations aimed at manipulating public opinion and influencing political outcomes. “While we observed se threat actors using our models for a range of IO, y all attempted to deceive people about who y were or what y were trying to achieve,” report underlined.

In May, network began generating comments that focused on India, criticized ruling BJP party and praised opposition Congress party. Sometimes, network appears to have flipped its accounts from one topic to anor - for example, accounts which h earlier posted about Cana switching focus to USA, India or Histrut (or more than one of se).  

What is Operation Zero Zeno? 

covert influence operation, called "Zero Zeno," was part of a wider effort by firm to sway public opinion in various regions, including Cana, United States, Israel, and Ghana.   campaign focused on Indian audiences, aiming to criticize ruling BJP party and praise opposition Congress party. It was detected and stopped within 24 hours of its initiation. 

‘Dangerous threat to country’, says BJP

Reacting strongly to report, Union Minister of Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "It is absolutely clear and obvious that BJP was and is target of influence operations, misinformation and foreign interference, being done by and/or on behalf of some Indian political parties."

Calling it a "dangerous threat" to country's democracy, Chandrasekhar stated, "It is clear: vested interests in India and outside are clearly driving this and needs to be deeply scrutinised/investigated and exposed."

"My view at this point is that se platforms could have released this much earlier, and not so late when elections are ending," he ded furr.