Iran, China used AI agents in novel influence campaigns: NYT report

Iran and China, along with groups in Israel, have used artificial intelligence (AI) in novel social media influence campaigns in recent months, The New York Times reported on Friday. It raises concerns for US officials and cybersecurity researchers about the technology’s growing ability to operate with limited human involvement. The report said the campaigns used freely available Chinese AI models to create autonomous “agents” capable of carrying out online tasks. Hundreds of the agents were reportedly deployed to establish networks of fake accounts on US social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok. The AI agents then populated the accounts with posts about politics and current events, while coordinating messaging and interactions online. Read: Founder of Chinese startup Spirit AI says robot brains set for 2027 breakthrough US officials and researchers described the activity as among the first known cases in which AI agents powered by Chinese models were used in nearly the entire process of an influence campaign. The campaigns were described as relatively crude but significant because they demonstrated how publicly available AI systems can automate operations that previously required substantial human involvement. The report said US intelligence agencies, technology companies and security researchers investigated the activity and traced the Chinese and Iranian operations to state-backed actors. The Iranian campaign targeted US audiences, with AI-generated accounts posing as ordinary Americans in major cities. The accounts reportedly posted popular memes, tagged journalists and politicians and promoted views critical of the Republican Party. Read more: Anthropic's Claude helped cybersecurity researchers breach OpenAI: report Nearly 80,000 people followed the AI-generated accounts, which were active during the first half of the year, according to the report. The report also detailed two Israeli campaigns attributed to private companies. One, linked to Tel Aviv-based IntelEye, involved AI agents controlling thousands of social media accounts and engaging with discussions surrounding Israel’s upcoming elections. The company said the activity was a defensive research experiment designed to test how AI models could be misused.