OpenAI has publicly disclosed and banned multiple ChatGPT accounts it says were linked to China after they were used in attempts to shape U.S. public debate on tariffs and the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers.
The company's report describes the actions as early examples of how foreign actors could leverage generative AI tools for influence operations. According to its threat intelligence team, the banned accounts were part of at least two distinct clusters that "likely originated in China" and used ChatGPT to generate "social media comments and images."
One operation, dubbed the "Data Center Bandwagon," focused on crafting content that portrayed AI data centers as harmful to ordinary Americans by highlighting claims of rising electricity costs and environmental burdens.
Another cluster, known internally as "Tech and Tariffs," produced "comments and images criticizing US tariffs as attempts to dominate technological competition and specified in their prompts that the content should not include China's leader Xi Jinping in the output and instead include only President Trump."
"This cluster was connected to a network of likely inauthentic social media accounts that were also likely targeting OpenAI by claiming ChatGPT user data had been compromised. These allegations were entirely false," the company added.
The campaigns reportedly used VPNs and likely posed as Americans to post AI‑generated content on platforms like X, with some outputs also rendered in Italian, Japanese, and Chinese, according to the findings.
OpenAI said it detected these campaigns in activity dating from late 2025 into early 2026 and has since shut down and banned the implicated accounts as part of broader misuse mitigation. Company investigators emphasize that they found no evidence that the campaigns successfully shifted public views or gained significant engagement, and they appeared confined to their own small networks rather than "breaking out" into wider discourse.
The company's report aligns with recent discussions in Washington about foreign influence in U.S. digital ecosystems. Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, cited OpenAI's findings to argue that China was trying to "exploit the openness" of American society to sow division, especially on contentious issues like data center construction and trade tariffs. He pledged continued oversight of such activities.
Beijing's has dismissed the allegations. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was not familiar with the specific OpenAI research. It condemned what it called "groundless attacks" on China, while reaffirming its stated commitment to responsible AI development.
