OpenAI has claimed that it has effectively blocked over 20 criminal activities globally that have attempted to utilize its technology for cybercrime and distributing false information since the beginning of the year. This message emphasizes the continuous fight against the exploitation of artificial intelligence (AI) and the precautions taken to safeguard users from hazardous actions.
These disruptive operations comprised a variety of criminal behaviors, such as developing malware, producing misleading articles for websites, constructing phony bios for social media, and making fake profile images for fraudulent accounts on platforms such as X (previously Twitter). OpenAI stated that, while threat actors continue to test its AI models, there has been no major improvement in their capacity to produce new types of malware or get considerable attention on social media.
Among the interrupted operations, OpenAI explicitly identified attempts to create deceptive social media information about elections in several nations, including the United States, Rwanda, and, to a lesser extent, India and the European Union. None of these initiatives drew broad or sustained notice.
One major example involves an Israeli commercial business called STOIC (also known as Zero Zeno), which was responsible for producing social media remarks on the Indian elections. Meta and OpenAI already discovered this activity in May.
OpenAI described numerous particular cyber activities that were halted:
- SweetSpecter: This outfit, thought to be located in China, uses artificial intelligence for a variety of purposes, including reconnaissance and screenplay development. They even attempted to lure OpenAI staff into installing dangerous malware.
- Cyber Av3ngers: This outfit, affiliated with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, employed artificial intelligence to explore industrial control systems.
- Storm-0817: Another Iranian organization that used artificial intelligence to enhance Android malware capable of collecting personal data and scraping information from social media.
OpenAI also targeted many groups of accounts engaged in influence activities. For example, two organizations called A2Z and Stop News developed deceptive English and French-language content that was distributed across many channels. Stop News used DALL·E’s eye-catching graphics to effectively attract attention to its postings, according to the study.
Furthermore, two other networks, Bet Bot and Corrupt Comment, were uncovered as employing OpenAI’s technology to engage people on X and produce deceptive comments on various pages.
This disclosure follows a prior report in August, when OpenAI suspended accounts associated with another Iranian influence campaign that used ChatGPT to produce content about the forthcoming US presidential election.
According to OpenAI’s researchers, these threat actors frequently employed its models early in their operations, acquiring fundamental resources such as internet access and social media accounts before distributing their completed goods, whether they were social media postings or malware.
Despite the difficulties associated with the exploitation of generative AI, a research from cybersecurity firm Sophos stated that the technology might potentially be used to propagate targeted disinformation via tailored emails. This implies that malevolent actors might construct bogus campaign websites or personalities and deliver deceptive messages targeted at certain groups, allowing for a new degree of disinformation propagation.
To summarize, OpenAI is actively striving to counteract the exploitation of its technology by halting damaging operations, but dangers persist as fraudsters modify their tactics. The scenario highlights the importance of continued vigilance in the battle against cybercrime and disinformation.
This summary is based on an article from OpenAI, published on October 10, 2024, by Ravie Lakshmanan. You can check out the full article here.
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