Description: A network of 171 bot accounts on X are alleged to have used ChatGPT to generate political content supporting Ghana’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its presidential candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia, ahead of the December 2024 election. The AI-generated posts reportedly praised Bawumia while spreading disinformation targeting the opposition candidate, John Mahama, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Editor Notes: Reconstructing the timeline of events: (1) February 2024: The network of 171 bot accounts is reported to have become active by regularly generating and disseminating political content favoring Ghana’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its presidential candidate, Mahamudu Bawumia. The posts reportedly used hashtags like #Bawumia2024 and #ItIsPossible to amplify pro-NPP messaging while disparaging opposition candidate John Mahama with hashtags like #Mahamaisaliar and #DrunkmaniMahama. (2) October 2024: OpenAI reported disrupting over 20 political influence networks worldwide that used ChatGPT to generate political content, though this network targeting Ghana’s election is reportedly not specifically mentioned in its statement. (3) November 12, 2024: NewsGuard releases research findings identifying the 171 bot accounts as likely using ChatGPT to generate political posts. According to NewsGuard, the bots were found to operate with regimented patterns, posting 10 or more times per day during Ghanaian business hours. (4) December 2024: As the presidential election approached on December 7, the bot accounts continued to be active. NewsGuard shared its findings with X and OpenAI, but only four of the 171 accounts were reported to have faced action, with two suspended and two restricted. (8) The Wikipedia article on this election is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Ghanaian_general_election.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: OpenAI developed an AI system deployed by Pro-New Patriotic Party bot network, which harmed John Mahama , National Democratic Congress , Ghanaian electorate , Democracy and Electoral integrity.
Alleged implicated AI systems: ChatGPT and X (Twitter)
Incident Stats
Risk Subdomain
A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
4.1. Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
Risk Domain
The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
- Malicious Actors & Misuse
Entity
Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
Human
Timing
The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
Post-deployment
Intent
Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Intentional
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
As Ghana approaches its presidential election on December 7, researchers have uncovered a network of 171 bot accounts on X that use ChatGPT to write posts favorable to the incumbent political party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
An AI-au…
Variants
A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.
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