Binance Claims to be Target of ChatGPT-Based Smear Campaign
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has claimed that it is being targeted by a disinformation campaign that uses artificial intelligence (AI). The company alleges that it has been flooded with inquiries in recent weeks about whether its founder, Changpeng Zhao, is an official in the Chinese Communist Party.
Binance has been approached by a number of congressional offices asking about a purported conversation, which, according to AI program ChatGPT, claimed that Zhao developed a social media platform for the China National Petroleum Corp. Binance was unable to reproduce the conversation using general queries like “Is Changpeng Zhao a Communist?” but was able to do so using a specific question that referred to the state-run petroleum corporation.
Binance has accused ChatGPT of citing a fake LinkedIn page for Zhao and a Forbes web page from 2018 as the source of its information. The Forbes page currently shows a “not found” error, according to a screenshot supplied by Binance, and the URL for the story suggests it was written by investor and former journalist Pamela Ambler. Forbes and Ambler have not provided any comment about the page’s authenticity.
According to Patrick Hillmann, Binance’s chief strategy officer, allegations that Zhao had any connections with the Chinese Communist Party are baseless. He pointed out that Zhao would have been in high school at the time he was alleged to have worked for a state-run oil company. “It is especially sad to see this type of misinformation being shared by a few people in power when it would have been debunked with even the most basic level of fact-checking,” Hillmann added.
If Binance’s claim is accurate, it marks a concerning new milestone in the context of disinformation campaigns. While this type of dirty-trick campaign is not uncommon in the world of politics and business, it is one of the first times that AI has been used to smear a company in the halls of power in Washington. Experts warn that tools like ChatGPT will soon be weaponized to create fake media stories and other bogus content to influence or corrupt the political process.
