OpenAI findings boost GOP claims of foreign influence

OpenAI published new research this afternoon claiming China was likely behind two online influence operations intended to sway U.S. perceptions of artificial intelligence technology and reshape the debate in Washington around the infrastructure needed to support it, our colleagues Dana Nickel and Yasmin Khorram report with Jacob.

— The company’s researchers identified two clusters of ChatGPT users “likely originating from China” who used the AI chatbot to generate social media content promoting certain narratives about AI. This includes claims that data center build-outs are raising electricity costs for Americans and that President Donald Trump has weaponized tariffs to keep the U.S. ahead in the global tech race. The content was then posted by “batches of accounts” posing as Americans, said OpenAI’s Ben Nimmo during a press briefing on the report.

— The findings are likely to further fuel claims made by Republicans and others in the pro-AI camp that foreign entities have tried to meddle in the debate over AI data centers, which has become a policy flashpoint heading into the midterms. However, Nimmo also said “neither campaign appears to have gained much authentic engagement” and acknowledged the existing public backlash in the U.S.

— “There is a genuine debate going on in the states over the future of AI and data centers,” Nimmo said. “But what we don’t want to see is a covert foreign influence interference operation using the very same AI that it attacks.”

— Data center anxiety has resulted in dozens of proposed moratoriums at the local, state and national level. A POLITICO poll conducted by London-based independent polling partner Public First in January found that Americans are most concerned about rising electricity costs and the risk of blackouts when it comes to data center construction.

— A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FIRST IN PI — HEGSETH’S AI SPEECH: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to deliver a speech on “the future of American defense in the age of artificial intelligence” and the Pentagon’s efforts to integrate AI during a dinner hosted by the National Artificial Intelligence Association tomorrow night, Jacob reports.

— Executives and top officials from Shield AI, Nvidia and Google Public Sector are expected to attend the event, dubbed “AI and The Warfighter: Defense Innovation Dinner,” at The Westin Arlington, according to a person familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to share not-yet-public details. It boasts sponsorships from top tech companies and defense contractors including Google, Oracle, HII, Akiak and Carahsoft.

— Hegseth’s remarks come amid an ongoing clash between the Pentagon and AI lab Anthropic. Hegseth has been among the more hawkish voices in the administration as others like David Sacks push the president to take more of a hands-off approach to the technology, POLITICO previously reported.

FIRST IN PI — BGR SNAGS APPROPS AIDE: Bipartisan lobby shop BGR Group has hired longtime Hill aide Joshua Grogis to help lead the firm’s appropriations practice, Jacob reports. Grogis, who spent more than two decades in the House — including most recently as a senior adviser to Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) — is joining the firm as a managing director. Grogis said he’s also looking forward to expanding BGR’s tribal engagement, including in Oklahoma.

— “Having worked for Mr. Cole for 20 years, I have had a lot of interactions and positive engagement, both politically and policy-oriented, with tribes all across the country, and have built some really quality relationships there,” Grogis told PI. “There’s just a lot of good that can be done there through awareness, so I think tribal representation, tribal practice and people that have understood their issues are always helpful to have around.”

FIRST IN PI — RAMASWAMY’S COVID LOBBYING: A biotech company founded by Vivek Ramaswamy spent more than $70,000 in 2020 and 2021 to lobby the federal government for the development and approval of Covid-19 drugs, Jacob reports.

— The previously unreported filings come to light as just about every aspect of the pandemic gets relitigated in the Ohio governor’s race between Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton, who led the state’s health department when Covid-19 first emerged. In that first year of the outbreak, Acton played a key role in decisions to close schools and polling locations — moves Ramaswamy has used to lambast her as “Dr. Lockdown.” He has also accused her of spreading “Covid ideology” and said that her role in the state’s response to the virus “disqualifies her” from being governor.

— Acton’s campaign says Ramaswamy’s rhetoric contradicts his actions as a biotech executive at the time. Democrats have also criticized another one of Ramaswamy’s companies that pushed for a national Covid registry that would have segregated Americans based on Covid-19 vaccine status during the pandemic. Ramaswamy also reportedly paid to have his role on the state’s Covid response team scrubbed from his Wikipedia page.

— Ramaswamy stepped down from Roivant’s leadership in February 2023. Ramaswamy’s campaign and Roivant didn’t respond to requests for comment.