OpenAI detects China-linked accounts manipulating public opinion against US AI data centers

Artificial intelligence company OpenAI said on June 11 that accounts from China were likely behind a “targeted manipulation” campaign against the construction of AI data centers in the United States.

In a research report published on June 11, OpenAI — owner of the world’s most popular AI chatbot — said it had banned a group of accounts possibly based in China after detecting “efforts to manipulate the legitimate debate about AI in the U.S.”

According to OpenAI, these accounts were used to generate comments and images on social media blaming data centers for rising electricity prices in communities across the United States. Among them, the accounts created a cartoon strip depicting a cigar-chomping businessman holding a bag of dollars while a family reacts in shock to their electricity bill.

OpenAI said a second group of accounts created content claiming U.S. tariffs were an effort to “dominate technological competition” with China, while also instructing users not to mention Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Although the campaign tried to “exploit and amplify existing public concerns” about energy costs, OpenAI found no evidence that it had “significant” influence.

“Foreign influence operations have long sought to latch onto local issues and genuine beliefs, using them to build credibility, amplify divisions, or exacerbate public mistrust,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. “In this case, the actors tried to secretly interfere in the ongoing U.S. debate about its AI capabilities, while concealing their identity and motives.”

China’s embassy in Washington said it was not familiar with the report but rejected “any unfounded accusations or slander against China.” “AI is profoundly changing the way humans work and live. This is a new frontier for all of humanity,” the embassy spokesperson said in a statement to Al Jazeera. “China believes in a human-centered approach to AI and advocates openness and inclusiveness to ensure AI is a force for good and serves everyone.”

OpenAI is the latest voice to suggest that foreign influence may be behind opposition to AI in the United States. In May, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that growing public negative sentiment toward data center construction was not “organic” and could be linked to “foreign dark money.”

Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University specializing in foreign influence operations, expressed skepticism that the campaign identified by OpenAI, or any other coordinated effort, would have a major impact on the “volume or tone” of public debate. “My team is very familiar with the work of various Chinese influence actors, and the AI work that China has done so far is interesting but not effective,” Linvill said. “It’s getting better each month, and I worry about what they might be able to do in the future, but right now they haven’t achieved that.”

According to the Data Center Watch research project by AI security firm 10a Labs, at least 36 data center projects in the United States were blocked or delayed from May 2024 to June 2025. In March, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation imposing a moratorium on new data center construction until national safeguards to mitigate AI risks were in place. However, the bill is unlikely to become law in the near future due to President Donald Trump’s hands-off approach to AI regulation and Republican control of both houses of Congress.

Opposition to data centers partly stems from the enormous energy they consume to support the computing power needed to train and run AI models like ChatGPT. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), these facilities accounted for 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2024, with consumption growing 12% per year over the past five years.