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OpenAI says Iranian operatives used ChatGPT to plant critical news articles
An influence campaign dubbed Bogus Bylines used seven fake Western journalists to place nearly 100 articles criticizing the US war against Iran
OpenAI says it has caught an Iranian-linked influence operation that got its work published by real outlets.
On October 8, 2026, the company said it had banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts tied to a campaign it calls Bogus Bylines. The operation invented seven Western journalists and used them to push nearly 100 articles critical of the US war against Iran.
How the Bogus Bylines operation worked
According to OpenAI, the operators worked with its models mostly in Persian. They used them for three jobs: drafting long, polished articles, writing editorial pitches, and churning out social media comments.
The seven fabricated personas carried Western-sounding names, including Michael Harrison and Ervin B. Hoskins. Under those bylines, the campaign placed approximately 100 articles across about a dozen outlets.
One headline OpenAI cited read “The Iran War and the Collapse of Western Moral Credibility.”
OpenAI said operators asked its models for comments casting the US as the aggressor and Israel as untrustworthy.
Activity began in July 2025 and continued into October 2026, when OpenAI moved against the accounts. OpenAI said the operation ramped up after the US-Iran conflict escalated, with output peaking during the fighting.
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Category 4, and a Russian neighbor at Category 5
OpenAI rates influence operations on what it calls the IO Breakout Scale. Bogus Bylines landed at Category 4.
A Russian effort the company also disrupted, named Dark Clark, received a rating of Category 5, a higher tier indicating a more serious threat.
OpenAI was careful on one key point: who was actually running Bogus Bylines. The company said the operation appeared commercial in nature, and its exact affiliations, including any government links, remain unconfirmed.
Background: OpenAI’s running file on Iran
This is not OpenAI’s first encounter with Iranian-linked covert activity. The company has been publicly reporting on such operations since 2024.
Earlier Iranian operations, according to OpenAI, kept leaning on AI to generate content and steer geopolitical narratives. What sets Bogus Bylines apart is where the content ended up. Previous campaigns largely stayed confined to social platforms; this one got articles placed in legitimate outlets.
What this means for media, platforms, and readers
Bogus Bylines exploited the contributor submission system. If seven invented writers could place roughly 100 articles across about a dozen outlets, contributor vetting at many publications is thinner than readers might assume.
OpenAI’s models helped produce the content, but OpenAI also spotted the activity, shut down the accounts, and published the details.
If the operation was a commercial contractor rather than a state agency, it fits a model where influence campaigns get outsourced, which makes them harder to sanction and easier to deny.
What to watch next: whether the outlets that ran the Bogus Bylines articles disclose or retract them, whether OpenAI or others firm up who was behind the campaign, and whether other AI providers report similar activity on their own platforms.