OpenAI bans two covert influence operations from Russia and Iran

OpenAI said on October 8, 2026, that it banned two covert influence operations, one from Russia and one from Iran, that used ChatGPT to support "false front" entities. The Russian campaign was rated Category 5 on the IO Breakout Scale, the first such case for the company, while the Iranian operation was rated Category 4.

• Russian operation rated Category 5 out of 6 on the IO Breakout Scale
• Iranian campaign ran seven fake journalist personas
• Russian operators used VPNs and prompted mostly in Russian
• OpenAI has exposed 30 covert influence operations in 2.5 years