OpenAI says a group with apparent ties to China attempted to carry out a phishing attack against its employees, with Chinese bad actors trying to steal sensitive information from top US artificial intelligence (AI) companies It was announced that there have been renewed concerns that this may be the case.
The AI startup announced Wednesday that a suspected China-based group called SweetSpecter sent customer support emails to its staff posing as users of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT earlier this year.
OpenAI said the email contained a malware attachment that, when opened, allowed SweetSpecter to take screenshots and exfiltrate data, but the attempt failed.
“OpenAI’s security team contacted the employees believed to have been targeted in this spear-phishing campaign and discovered that existing security controls prevented the emails from reaching their corporate email,” OpenAI said in a statement.
The disclosure highlights potential cybersecurity risks for major AI companies as the United States and China become embroiled in a high-stakes battle for artificial intelligence supremacy. For example, in March, a former Google engineer was charged with stealing AI trade secrets from a Chinese company.
The Chinese government has repeatedly denied U.S. claims that domestic organizations are carrying out the cyberattacks and has accused outside groups of orchestrating the defamation campaign.
