Khartoum: AI research firm Anthropic announced Thursday that it uncovered and disrupted a widespread influence campaign linked "with high confidence" to United Arab Emirates government officials. The operation relied on the company's Claude chatbot to generate content targeting the Muslim Brotherhood and compiling materials against UN experts who criticised Abu Dhabi's alleged involvement in the Sudan war.

The conflict in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023 between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has created what the United Nations terms one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. While the UAE has consistently denied supporting the RSF, UN experts and independent missions recently reported that recruiters and entities operating from countries including the UAE facilitated weapons, logistics, and personnel for the RSF.

According to Anthropic's report on AI misuse, the influence campaign was built around an AI persona named "Deadshot," guided by a directive seeking "a coordinated transatlantic and regional operation to dismantle the Muslim Brotherhood globally."

The operation used Claude to produce social media posts, advocacy papers, reports, and testimony. It managed approximately 300 fake social media accounts, though Anthropic noted it could not verify if the generated materials swayed policy decisions or reached target audiences.

Anthropic detailed several key tactics used in the operation:

  • Counter-Accountability Dossiers: The campaign generated targeted dossiers on UN special rapporteurs who had publicly criticized the UAE's role in the Sudan conflict.

  • Co-opting Human Rights Groups: Operators hijacked the identity of a legitimate Sudanese human rights organization to draft testimony for two individuals, ensuring "materials serving a party to the Sudan conflict would reach the UN as from independent local witnesses, rather than state messaging."

  • Ghost-Writing UN Testimony: The campaign drafted official testimonies intended for the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, applying "specific restrictions" requiring that neither speech mention the UAE.

The UAE did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the report.

UN Security Council Debates Darfur Arms Embargo

As fighting intensifies across Sudan, aid agencies estimate that over 200,000 people have died and millions have been displaced. On Friday, the UN Security Council voted to renew its existing arms embargo on western Darfur for one month, amidst a ongoing push by the United States to expand the restrictions nationwide.

Russia, which holds veto power on the Council and aligns with the Sudanese army, firmly opposed extending the sanctions across the whole country. Following the vote, Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva stated that her country "will not allow even a hint of broadening the restrictions by the council on Sudan."

Conversely, US Deputy Ambassador Jeffrey Bartos argued that maintaining the limited scope was ineffective, calling the existing embargo "outdated" and "insufficient to address the realities of the war today."

"Inaction means more suffering and death," Bartos said. "That is unacceptable, and we refuse to rubber stamp another year of maintaining the status quo." (AFP)