OpenAI Reports Chinese Influence Campaign Using ChatGPT Against Trump Tariffs
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- OpenAI reported that Chinese propagandists attempted to use its ChatGPT chatbot to generate opposition to Donald Trump's tariffs and influence debates on data centers and AI.
- The campaign, active in late 2025 and early 2026, had minimal impact but highlights AI's role in digital influence.
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Chinese propagandists have been trying to use OpenAI’s flagship chatbot to gin up opposition to Donald Trump’s tariffs and intervene in American debates over data centres and AI, OpenAI said in a report published on Wednesday.
The company said its efforts, dating to late 2025 and early 2026, appeared to have had little or no effect, but it is another indication of how central generative AI is becoming in digital influence campaigns – even those aimed against AI companies themselves.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said that while it was not familiar with OpenAI’s research, “we firmly oppose any groundless attacks or smears against China” and that Beijing was working to “ensure AI is a force for good and for all”.
OpenAI said it caught one set of Chinese-speaking users using ChatGPT to come up with slogans and cartoons critiquing Trump’s trade and tech policy that were later posted to X.
The cartoons featured Trump behaving disruptively on the global stage, for example by swinging a hammer at a wall labelled “Global Future” or sawing apart a ladder he was standing on.
The same group also used the platform to generate Chinese comments for use in the comment sections of Chinese-language articles, as well as content in Italian and Japanese.
