X claims discovery of 200,000-account Chinese bot farm influencing US AI data center debate

Just weeks after Sam Altman's OpenAI linked China with datacentre protests across America, now the world's richest man Elon Musk's company X, formerly Twitter, has made similar claims. In a post on its platform, X said that it has discovered a bot farm network with 200,000 accounts as part of its Safety team's investigation into suspected inauthentic Chinese accounts. The company announced its findings on its Global Government Affairs page. It said that 200 accounts out of the 200,000 were posting comic strips, images and text about AI data centers in a manner that "could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy." In June this year, OpenAI published a report saying that accounts likely based in China used ChatGPT to generate anti-data center content. OpenAI noted back then that while the ChatGPT users likely used fake accounts to post on social media, they also posted "legitimate news stories about the power grid operator's capacity auctions and data center power demand." OpenAI believes they're part of a social media team at a private Chinese company working for local government clients. They apparently even uploaded a file to the chatbot describing their objectives and strategies on how to sway public opinion and how to establish fake social media accounts without getting detected.

What X said on Chinese bot farms fueling anti-AI data center protests

The X Safety team conducted an investigation into suspected Chinese inauthentic accounts involved in influence operations: We identified a bot farm of approximately 200,000 accounts. Within this farm, we found 200 accounts posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy. These posts contained claims that AI data centers are driving up household electricity prices and straining the grid. Others included AI-generated cartoons that depicted data-center operators enriching themselves at the public's expense. We remain committed to maintaining an open and authentic platform where people debate topics of public interest. We take seriously any attempts to undermine the integrity of the global town square and suspend accounts that violate our Authenticity policy. Incidentally, Elon Musk’s X also shared the sample posts to make its case as in OpenAI report. The pictures, illustrations and cartoons shared by X are the same as those shared by OpenAI in its report in June. The inauthentic accounts reportedly used OpenAI to generate illustrations and make talking points for their campaign.

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