OpenAI Report Flags Chinese Accounts Spreading Anti-Data Center Messages

OpenAI released a report on Wednesday describing a cluster of accounts originating in China that spread anti-data center messages on social media. The report said the accounts used ChatGPT-generated images as part of a campaign to amplify existing public concerns about energy prices and local impacts of data center development.

OpenAI stated it found no evidence of meaningful breakout of the messaging from the accounts it flagged. Local opposition to data centers in the United States has increased in recent months. A poll released last week by Heatmap showed that more than half of Americans support a moratorium on data center development.

Separate polling released in early June by Public First showed that support for data centers in the United States was the lowest of 15 countries surveyed.

One letter cited a report from the Bitcoin Policy Institute alleging that nonprofit funding connects anti-data center efforts to foreign funders. The Bitcoin Policy Institute report also stated that Chinese state media is openly campaigning against United States AI data centers.

A social media analytics company tracking data center opposition across platforms said it has not yet seen evidence of organized or scaled influence operations traceable to a foreign actor. The company identified two exceptions: a cross-platform network of accounts using AI-generated avatars that sporadically mention United States tech companies, and some Facebook pages producing AI-generated anti-data center images with administrators based in Bangladesh.

AI said the Bitcoin Policy Institute report calls out actions that do not match other documented cases of known Chinese influence campaigns. They noted that English-language Chinese media coverage of data center issues follows the same pattern as United States and other international outlets.