Russian influence op used ChatGPT to fool Peruvian schools

What happened: A Russian influence operation impersonated Peru's education office and got schools to hold propaganda events; at least one school did. Operators ran a fake think tank with an invented persona called Mia Clark and used ChatGPT mostly for paperwork. OpenAI caught it and rated it category five of six. NBC News, NPR, and a Peruvian outlet covered it.
The claim: OpenAI calls it the most far reaching operation it has disrupted.
Austin's take: Austin gives OpenAI credit for catching it and points out that AI ran the back office rather than writing viral posts. He worries that letting agents read and answer email for us dulls the human instinct that something is off.
Why it matters: AI generated official looking paperwork can get past real institutions, not just social media audiences.
What to do: Verify requests that claim to come from official bodies through a separate channel, especially if you lean on AI summaries of your inbox.
Not confirmed yet: Much of the evidence is the operators' own reports, and OpenAI names no specific Russian agency.

The Loop