AI used for political influence campaign in Phl - report

Online trolls are now using generative artificial intelligence to influence political discussions through inauthentic comments on social media platforms in the Philippines.

- By JANVIC MATEO

A new report released by OpenAI, the organization behind popular generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, detailed how the tool was used to "generate bulk volumes of short comments in English and Taglish," mainly to promote the agenda of the Marcos administration.

"The comments were posted by accounts on TikTok and Facebook, and focused on politics and current events in the Philippines," the report read.

The influence operation in the Philippines was among the case studies featured in the OpenAI report that focused on how the organization detects and prevents "malicious uses of AI."

OpenAI said it banned several ChatGPT accounts that originated in the Philippines over what it called "Operation High Five." "The threat actor used ChatGPT to support several stages of a political influence campaign targeting audiences in the Philippines. The stages included content analysis, comment generation and generating PR materials relating to the campaign," read the report.

The campaign, linked to a local commercial marketing company, used five channels on Tik Tok to promote the agenda of President Marcos.