OpenAI banned a network of accounts it believes originated in China for using its AI models to mass-produce social media posts trashing US data centers.
OpenAI's report on misuse of its models describes the operation, which it calls "Data Center Bandwagon," as a cluster of accounts generating content that criticizes American data center construction and AI infrastructure growth. The company attributes the cluster to a likely China-based origin. OpenAI says it banned the accounts as part of its ongoing effort to track and disrupt influence operations that use its tools.
This fits a pattern that has become routine: AI models make it cheap to generate large volumes of persuasive text, and state-linked actors are using that capability to shape opinion on the exact infrastructure race their own governments are also running. A campaign aimed at souring Americans on data centers is, in effect, commentary on how much the buildout itself matters.
Worth noting: the company auditing propaganda about data centers is also one of the biggest reasons new data centers are getting built.