OpenAI says Iranian operatives used ChatGPT to plant critical news articles

OpenAI says it has caught an Iranian-linked influence operation that got its work published by real outlets. On October 8, 2026, the company said it had banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts tied to a campaign it calls Bogus Bylines. The operation invented seven Western journalists and used them to push nearly 100 articles critical of the US war against Iran. How the Bogus Bylines operation worked According to OpenAI, the operators worked with its models mostly in Persian. They used them for three jobs: drafting long, polished articles, writing editorial pitches, and churning out social media comments. The seven fabricated personas carried Western-sounding names, including Michael Harrison and Ervin B. Hoskins. Under those bylines, the campaign placed approximately 100 articles across about a dozen outlets. One headline OpenAI cited read “The Iran War and the Collapse of Western Moral Credibility.” OpenAI said operators asked its models for comments casting the US as the aggressor and Israel as untrustworthy. Activity began in July 2025 and continued into October 2026, when OpenAI moved against the accounts. OpenAI said the operation ramped up after the US-Iran conflict escalated, w...