The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance has found itself on the opposite side of the artificial intelligence revolution driven by ChatGPT. Binance said that someone is using artificial intelligence to run a disinformation campaign against the platform. Unknown parties, with the help of ChatGPT based on reports dated May 1, generated rumors that the Binance CEO is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Here are the details…
ChatGPT received information from fake pages
According to Fortune, an unknown source spread false information to various parties, including congressional offices. Later, these parties wrote to Binance. Its CEO asked if Changpeng Zhao still maintains ties with the CCP. In their request, they cited a conversation on ChatGPT as proof of Zhao’s CCP connections. Binance has finally managed to reproduce the conversation in question. Binance’s CSO Patrick Hillman shared recordings of the conversation on Twitter.
Hillman’s ChatGPT post specifically claims that Zhao was a member of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Youth Committee in the 1990s. This record also suggests that Zhao worked as a software developer for the CNPC. ChatGPT cited two URLs as evidence of its claims. One of the URLs points to a LinkedIn page that does not exist and does not match Zhao’s official profile. The other URL points to a non-existent Forbes URL titled “Crypto King, Meet the Quiet Crypto Crusader With [a] $700 Million War Chest” attributed to former Forbes writer Pamela Ambler.
“We cannot find any evidence that the [Forbes] story or LinkedIn page exists,” Hillman wrote in a statement of the events on Twitter. Zhao’s actual LinkedIn profile does not indicate that he worked for the CNPC. It also does not include work history prior to 2001. When asked where this information was available, ChatGPT said it was publicly available, pointing to Changpeng Zhao’s fake LinkedIn profile. He also claimed that the information is available in various news articles and interviews.
To all the crypto and AI sleuths out there, here is the ChatGPT thread if someone wants to dig in. As you'll see ChatGPT pulls this from a fake LinkedIn profile and a non-existent @Forbes article. We can't find any evidence of this story nor the LinkedIn page ever existing. pic.twitter.com/szLaix3nza
— Patrick Hillmann 🤷🏻♂️👉 (@PRHillmann) May 1, 2023
Binance’s China connections have been questioned before
cryptocoin.com As we have reported, Binance has been the target of similar accusations before. In September 2022, Zhao denied accusations that Binance executive Guangying Chen was an agent of the Chinese government. He also said that Binance was not founded in China. Later, on March 29, 2023, the Financial Times claimed that the exchange had hijacked internal Binance documents. He then published an article suggesting that he was hiding his presence in China. Zhao similarly denied these allegations, but did not express any opposing views.
But today’s event is of a new nature, as the main source of rumors is artificial intelligence. Hillman acknowledged that as with any new technology, “bad actors” will abuse artificial intelligence. He also stated that in line with Zhao’s statements earlier this year, Binance is also using artificial intelligence for its own constructive purposes.
