May 30 (Reuters) - Sam Altman-led OpenAI said on

Thursday it had disrupted five covert influence operations that

sought to use its artificial intelligence models for "deceptive

activity" across the internet.

The artificial intelligence firm said the threat actors used

its AI models to generate short comments, longer articles in a

range of languages, made up names and bios for social media

accounts over the last three months.

These campaigns, which included threat actors from

Russia, China, Iran and Israel, also focused on issues including

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the conflict in Gaza, the Indian

elections, politics in Europe and the United States, among

others.

The deceptive operations were an "attempt to manipulate

public opinion or influence political outcomes," OpenAI said in

a statement.

The San Francisco-based firm's report is the latest to

stir safety concerns about the potential misuse of the gen AI

technology, which can quickly and easily produce human-like

text, imagery and audio.

Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed OpenAI said on Tuesday it

formed a Safety and Security Committee that would be led by

board members, including CEO Sam Altman, as it begins training

its next AI model.

The deceptive campaigns have not benefited from

increased audience engagement or reach due to the AI firm's

services, OpenAI said in the statement.

OpenAI said these operations did not solely use

AI-generated material but included manually written texts or

memes copied from across the internet.

Separately, Meta Platforms ( META ), in its quarterly

security report on Wednesday, said it had found "likely

AI-generated" content used deceptively on its Facebook and

Instagram platforms, including comments praising Israel's

handling of the war in Gaza published below posts from global

news organizations and U.S. lawmakers.