Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has dubbed the suspected interference in Lok Sabha elections by an Israeli firm as a “very dangerous threat” to democracy.
Two days before the final phase of voting in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI said in a report that it foiled disruptive activities by an Israeli firm that was spreading content against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and in favour of Congress during the elections.
The report named the Israeli company as STOIC. The OpenAI said that the company conducted such work across platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and other websites.
Ia a post on X, Chandrasekhar said it was clear that the BJP was the target of “influence operations, misinformation, and foreign interference”.
Chandrasekhar further said, “This is very dangerous threat to our democracy. It is clear vested interests in India and outside are clearly driving this and needs to be deeply scrutinised/investigated and exposed.”
What does the OpenAI report say?
In a report published on Thursday, OpenAI said that it foiled five covert influence operations (IO) using artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content over the past three months.
The operations that OpenAI foiled were being run from Russia, Iran, China, and Israel. It is the operation by an Israeli company named STOIC that concerned India, as per the report.
In early May, the STOIC’s operation began targeting audiences in India with English-language content, said the report.
Besides targeting Indian elections, the company also peddled anti-Hamas, anti-Qatar, pro-Israel, and anti-Histadrut content, as per the report. Histadrut is a national trade union in Israel.
As for the company’s work regarding Indian elections, the OpenAI said, “In May, the network began generating comments that focused on India, criticized the ruling BJP party and praised the opposition Congress party. Sometimes, the network appears to have flipped its accounts from one topic to another – for example, accounts which had earlier posted about Canada switching focus to the USA, India or the Histadrut (or more than one of these).”
The report said that OpenAI foiled such activity related to Indian elections within 24 hours of its beginning in May.
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‘Very dangerous threat’: Govt reacts to report on influence operation against BJP in Lok Sabha polls
