For every public purpose there are corresponding private interests. OpenAI, for example, has its own interests in language models and the data center infrastructure necessary to support widespread use of such models.
Where it comes to public policy on data centers, that applies to state actors as well.
A report issued by OpenAI discusses two clusters of ChatGPT accounts likely originating from China
“that we banned after they used our models in support of apparent covert influence operations that promoted narratives in an attempt to manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and wider tech policies,” the report says.
“The first cluster generated social media comments and images claiming that data center buildouts for AI were increasing electricity prices for average families,” the report says. The issue is not the relevance of the debate, but the effort by state-linked actors to influence that debate, for perceived state interests.
“The operators of the accounts were likely part of a social media operations team at a private Chinese technology company conducting work for Chinese provincial level government clients,” OpenAI says. “This activity appears consistent with a commercial ecosystem that supports Party-state priorities in public opinion guidance.”
“A separate report they uploaded to ChatGPT described their objectives and strategies for influencing public opinion and establishing social media accounts designed to evade platform detection systems,” the report notes.
“They primarily targeted U.S. audiences and generated English-language short comments and images claiming that data centers and AI applications were increasing electricity demand and causing higher
costs for ordinary Americans,” OpenAI says.
While the campaign does not appear to have gained much authentic engagement, “their significance lies in what they reveal about the intentions of influence operators from China and the narratives they are testing and seeking to amplify,” the report states.
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