Iran spread anti-Israel, US disinformation to global media through fake journalists, OpenAI says

OpenAI confirmed disrupting an Iranian influence operation that used AI to create at least seven fake journalist personas and pitch long-form articles to global media outlets, promoting anti-Israel and anti-US narratives. The campaign, rated four on OpenAI's six-point scale, placed content in mainstream outlets and increased activity following the US-Iran conflict.

OpenAI confirmed it disrupted an Iranian influence operation that used artificial intelligence to create at least seven fake journalist personas and pitch long-form articles to global media outlets, promoting anti-Israel and anti-US narratives. The campaign, rated four on OpenAI's six-point Influence Operation scale, placed content in mainstream outlets, with one outlet having nearly two million Facebook followers. The fake bylines belonged to Ervin B. Hoskins, Noah Lamington, Sophia Gonzalez, Michael Harrison, Ericka Feusier, Jenny Williams, and Alice Johnson, all presented as Western journalists. The Jerusalem Post located an article by "Noah Lamington" in International Policy Digest headlined "The Knesset Revolt Netanyahu Couldn't Prevent." OpenAI identified nearly 100 articles produced by the operation, published from July 2025 to October 2026, with volume increasing after the US-Iran conflict. The company noted that AI enabled the operators to conduct the campaign with greater scale, efficiency, linguistic fluency, and editorial ability. OpenAI suggested those behind the operation were likely commercial actors running a for-hire influence campaign.