OpenAI Uncovers Russian Operation That Built Fake Israeli Think Tank on Stolen Academic Work

OpenAI has dismantled a Russian-origin influence operation that used ChatGPT to fabricate an entire Israeli academic institute, complete with plagiarized research papers misattributed to real scholars, according to a threat intelligence report the company published Wednesday.The operation centered on the International Burke Institute, which presented itself as an Israel-based expert organization. OpenAI investigators found that 34 of 36 articles on the institute’s website were copied from legitimate publications, then credited to academics who never wrote them. One paper on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, originally published by Cambridge University Press, was attributed to a University of Nottingham professor whose actual expertise lies in South Asian politics.Operators used Russian-language prompts to generate English-language social media posts and comments promoting the institute, while instructing the model to conceal the content’s Russian origin. Because ChatGPT is blocked in Russia, the group accessed the service through virtual private networks.Despite the operation’s elaborate construction including official-looking profiles and networks of accounts posing as regular users its reach remained limited. Most posts garnered few views, though associated Telegram channels had accumulated up to 20,000 followers each.”Although the campaign appears to have reached relatively small audiences, its elaborate construction distinguishes it from other Russia-linked influence operations we have disrupted since the start of the war in Ukraine,” OpenAI wrote.The company stopped short of attributing the campaign to the Russian government. Some individuals in Israel appear to have represented the institute at conferences or submitted articles, but OpenAI said it could not determine their relationship to the Russian operators.The discovery fits a broader pattern. In 2024, OpenAI identified a separate Russia-linked campaign called Doppelganger that used ChatGPT to produce articles and social media content praising Russia while attacking Ukraine, NATO, and the United States. Another Russian military intelligence unit, Forest Blizzard, has used the chatbot for cyber operations including target research, script writing, and phishing support.