Iran and China create first-of-their-kind autonomous AI influence campaigns

Iran, China, and private Israeli companies used open Chinese AI models and autonomous agents to create networks of fake accounts on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok. The Iranian campaign posed bots as Americans and its accounts gained nearly 80,000 followers.

• AI agents autonomously created fake accounts and posted content
• Iranian campaign gained nearly 80,000 followers
• Israel's IntelEye said it was a security test of models
• Operators disabled AI models' safety mechanisms