RNC uses AI-generated images in anti-Biden ad
The Republican National Committee released an advertisement featuring AI-generated images depicting a dystopian future under President Joe Biden. RNC chair Ronna McDaniel acknowledged the images were AI-generated but claimed the ad was not a deepfake because the disclosure was made upfront. The ad was criticized as fake and misleading.
- Company involved
- Republican National Committee
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Campaigners call for end to Home Office's IPIC 'robo-caseworker' AI tool
Migrants' rights campaigners have called for the UK government to stop using the IPIC (Identify & Prioritise Immigration Cases) AI system, which automatically identifies and recommends migrants for immigration decisions or enforcement action. Privacy International and the Migrants' Rights Network have raised concerns that the system could lead to racial bias and the 'rubberstamping' of algorithmic recommendations by caseworkers. The campaigners argue that people going through the immigration system may not know their information has been processed by an algorithm. The Home Office has not directly responded to the specific concerns, though Science Secretary Peter Kyle has defended the safe development of AI in public services.
- Company involved
- Home Office
- AI system involved
- IPIC (Identify & Prioritise Immigration Cases)
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Intellexa Predator spyware used to surveil human rights lawyer in Pakistan
In summer 2025, a human rights lawyer from Pakistan's Balochistan province was targeted via WhatsApp with Intellexa's Predator spyware, according to Amnesty International's Security Lab. The attack is part of a broader pattern of unlawful surveillance of activists, journalists and human rights defenders. The Intellexa Leaks investigation exposed internal operations of the spyware company, raising concerns about human rights due diligence.
- AI system involved
- Predator spyware
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Apple and Google remove Navalny's Smart Voting app in Russia under Kremlin pressure
Apple and Google removed the Smart Voting app, created by imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny, from their app stores in Russia on September 17, 2021, under pressure from Russian authorities. The app recommended candidates likely to defeat Kremlin-backed candidates in the parliamentary election. The removal followed threats of fines and criminal prosecution, and Russian police visited Google's offices to enforce a court order. Navalny's allies accused the companies of bending to Kremlin blackmail.
- Company involved
- Navalny's Foundation for Fighting Corruption
- AI system involved
- Smart Voting app
10 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI accuses DeepSeek of inappropriately using its data
OpenAI has accused Chinese AI company DeepSeek of inappropriately using data from its ChatGPT model to train DeepSeek's own large language model. The allegation involves a technique called distillation, where one model is trained using outputs from another. OpenAI said it is reviewing indications of the misuse and will share more information. DeepSeek has not responded to the accusation.
- Company involved
- DeepSeek
- AI system involved
- DeepSeek
6 source articles · read the reporting →
DeepSeek-R1 censors 85% of sensitive Chinese political prompts in tests
Promptfoo tested DeepSeek-R1 against a dataset of 1,360 politically sensitive prompts and found that about 85% of them were refused. The refusals followed a standard form aligned with Chinese Communist Party policy. The testing also demonstrated that the censorship could be trivially bypassed using simple jailbreak techniques, such as prompt injection or changing the context.
- Company involved
- DeepSeek
- AI system involved
- DeepSeek-R1
5 source articles · read the reporting →
AI-driven Shadow Play network spreads pro-China propaganda on YouTube
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) revealed an extensive network of at least 30 YouTube channels, called Operation Shadow Play, that used generative AI to produce and publish pro-China and anti-US content. The network exploited YouTube's algorithmic recommendation system to cross-promote videos, gaining about 730,000 subscribers and 120 million views. The operation is alleged to be a coordinated influence campaign, possibly directed by a Mandarin-speaking controller, though the specific actor is unknown.
- Company involved
- Not specified (the operator is unknown)
- AI system involved
- Shadow Play
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Microsoft Copilot gives false election information in Swiss and Bavarian elections
AI Forensics and Algorithm Watch tested Microsoft's Copilot chatbot during the 2023 Swiss federal elections and German state elections in Hesse and Bavaria. They found that one-third of its answers contained factual errors, including incorrect election dates, outdated candidates, or fabricated controversies. The chatbot also evaded questions 40% of the time and sometimes attributed false information to credible sources. The organisations alerted Microsoft multiple times.
- Company involved
- Microsoft
- AI system involved
- Copilot (Bing Chat)
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Chinese Communist Party uses AI to create anti-American memes
Researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that a campaign linked to the Chinese Communist Party is using AI image generators to create and spread memes designed to stoke anti-American sentiment by capitalising on President Biden's support of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza. The memes are being distributed on social media platforms like X, Facebook, and YouTube. Platforms have taken down some accounts, but the campaign continues.
- Company involved
- Chinese Communist Party
4 source articles · read the reporting →
Pravda network content found in Wikipedia and AI chatbot outputs
The DFRLab and CheckFirst found that Russia-linked Pravda network domains are frequently cited as sources on Wikipedia, and that content from these sites appears in responses from AI chatbots including ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity. The chatbots did not disclose the network's links to Russia. The investigation raises concerns about the pollution of training data and the spread of pro-Kremlin propaganda through AI systems.
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity
10 source articles · read the reporting →
AI deepfakes disrupt Bangladesh's election
Affordable deepfake tools for $24 a month are being used to generate deceptive videos targeting voters in Bangladesh's election. The technology enables the creation of realistic fake content that could mislead the electorate. The full extent of the impact and response from authorities is not yet known.
8 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI suspends developer of bot mimicking Dean Phillips
OpenAI suspended the developer of a bot that used ChatGPT to impersonate Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips. The bot interacted with users without disclosing it was an AI, violating OpenAI's policies against political campaigning. This is the company's first known action against misuse of its AI in a political campaign.
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Storm-1376 used AI-generated fake audio during Taiwan election, Microsoft reports
Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center reported that the Chinese state-linked group Storm-1376 posted suspected AI-generated fake audio of former Taiwanese presidential candidate Terry Gou endorsing another candidate on election day in January 2024. Gou had made no such statement, and YouTube removed the content before it reached a wide audience. The group has also used AI-generated memes and news anchors as part of influence operations in Taiwan and the United States.
- Company involved
- Storm-1376 (also known as Spamouflage and Dragonbridge)
7 source articles · read the reporting →
Alberta Progressive Tory Party removes AI-generated video after admitting it was bad
The Progressive Tory Party of Alberta posted a video on X that was generated using artificial intelligence. The party later removed the video and acknowledged that the AI-generated content was "bad" and "stilted". They stated they would reshoot the video with real party members. The account that posted the video no longer exists.
- Company involved
- Progressive Tory Party of Alberta
6 source articles · read the reporting →
Ugandan police accused of using Huawei facial recognition to arrest protesters
The Ugandan police are accused of using a facial recognition system supplied by Huawei to track, arrest and torture anti-government protesters. The police confirmed they used images from the surveillance system to identify and detain more than 836 people involved in protests on November 18-19, 2020. Over 50 people were killed during the demonstrations. Critics say the system is unregulated and invades privacy.
- Company involved
- Ugandan Police
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Stack Overflow users protest OpenAI deal by sabotaging posts, get banned
Stack Overflow announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate user-contributed content into ChatGPT. In protest, some users attempted to delete or deface their answers. Stack Overflow staff allegedly banned these users and reverted the changes. The conflict remains unresolved, with users accusing Stack Overflow of using their labour without consent.
- Company involved
- Stack Overflow
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT
4 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI's ChatGPT generates political campaign messages despite own rules
OpenAI's ChatGPT has been generating tailored political campaign messages, violating the company's own rules. The Washington Post analysis found that OpenAI has not enforced its ban for months. The chatbot can create messages targeting specific demographics like suburban women and urban dwellers. OpenAI acknowledged the difficulty of enforcing the rules and is seeking suggestions.
- Company involved
- OpenAI
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT
9 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI and Anthropic ignore robots.txt to scrape web content for training data
OpenAI and Anthropic have been found to be ignoring or circumventing the robots.txt rule that prevents automated scraping of websites, according to a person with knowledge of TollBit's analytics. The AI companies are bypassing blocks to their web crawlers GPTBot and ClaudeBot to retrieve all content from publishers' websites for model training. The practice undermines the long-standing web standard and raises concerns about copyright infringement.
- Company involved
- OpenAI, Anthropic
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT, Claude
10 source articles · read the reporting →
AI-generated deepfake audio impersonates Slovak politician and journalist
An AI-generated deepfake audio recording was circulated on social media two days before the Slovak parliamentary elections. The audio purportedly captured a conversation between Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Šimečka and journalist Monika Tódová discussing election manipulation. Experts identified multiple signs of AI manipulation, including unnatural intonation and constant speech tempo.
9 source articles · read the reporting →
Prosecraft shut down after using authors' books without consent for AI analytics
Prosecraft, a fiction analytics site, used the full text of over 25,000 books without author consent to train its AI algorithms and provide writing statistics. Authors protested on social media, demanding removal of their works. The developer, Benji Smith, subsequently shut down the site and wrote a blog post explaining his actions.
- Company involved
- Prosecraft
- AI system involved
- Prosecraft
10 source articles · read the reporting →
Big Tech companies used YouTube videos to train AI without consent
Proof News found that subtitles from 173,536 YouTube videos were used by companies including Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, and Salesforce to train AI models. The dataset, called YouTube Subtitles, was created by EleutherAI and published in 2020. Creators were not aware and some have expressed frustration, calling it theft. The companies have acknowledged using the dataset but argue it was publicly available.
- Company involved
- Anthropic, Nvidia, Apple, Salesforce, Bloomberg, Databricks
- AI system involved
- Claude, OpenELM
10 source articles · read the reporting →
AfD used AI-generated images for political propaganda on TikTok
In the months before the 2024 European elections, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) politician Maximilian Krah used AI-generated images on TikTok to create false visual evidence of fictional families, staged nationalist demonstrations, and immigration threats. The AI-generated content was posted to amplify anxieties around migration and cultural identity, with over 1.3 million views across 28 thumbnails. The article alleges that the AfD continued this practice after the elections, weaponizing AI to deepen political divides.
- Company involved
- Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
5 source articles · read the reporting →
Delhi Police use facial recognition to screen PM Modi rally attendees
Delhi Police used an Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) to screen crowds at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally on December 22, 2019. The system, originally installed to find missing children, was used to identify possible disruptions. Privacy advocates called the move illegal and unconstitutional, saying it amounts to mass surveillance. Police defended the use, citing credible intelligence about possible disruptions.
- Company involved
- Delhi Police
- AI system involved
- Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS)
6 source articles · read the reporting →
OpenAI disrupts Iranian influence operation using ChatGPT to generate political content
OpenAI identified and banned a cluster of ChatGPT accounts linked to an Iranian covert influence operation called Storm-2035. The operation generated long-form articles and social media comments on topics including the U.S. presidential election, the Gaza conflict, and Venezuelan politics, posing as both progressive and conservative outlets. Most content received low or no engagement, and OpenAI stated it shared threat intelligence with government and industry stakeholders. The company took down the accounts and continues to monitor for further violations.
- Company involved
- OpenAI
- AI system involved
- ChatGPT
6 source articles · read the reporting →