Mumbai: As the elections in the country have entered the final stage, a sensational update has come to the fore, claiming that an Israeli firm was attempting to influence the elections in India. These attempts were disrupted by the owner of an artificial intelligence company used to generate comments against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and support the Congress party on social media platforms.
OpenAI, the US-based company behind ChatGPT, reported that it disrupted attempts by an Israeli firm to influence the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections 2024 in India. According to their report, "AI and Covert Influence Operations: Latest Trends," OpenAI banned a group of accounts from Israel that were used to create and edit content across platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram, websites, and YouTube.
As per the report, the network was managed by STOIC, an Israeli political campaign company. In early May, the operation started targeting Indian audiences with English content. OpenAI's models identified and generated web articles and social media comments, which were then spread across multiple platforms, particularly Instagram, Facebook, and X.
In May, OpenAI detected and halted activities aimed at the Indian elections within 24 hours of their initiation. The content generated by the network focused on India, criticising the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and praising the opposition Congress party. BJP has reacted to the recent development and said that the platform should have released the details earlier, and not at a time when the elections have entered the final stage of completion.
Union Minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "It is absolutely clear and obvious that @BJP4India was and is the target of influence operations, misinformation, and foreign interference, being done by and/or on behalf of some Indian political parties. This is a very dangerous threat to our democracy. It is clear vested interests in India and outside are driving this and it needs to be deeply scrutinised, investigated, and exposed. My view at this point is that these platforms could have released this much earlier, and not so late when elections are ending."
