OpenAI 表示，一组与中国有关的 ChatGPT 帐户试图在美国煽动地方对资料中心的反对，可能意在削弱美国在人工智慧方面的竞争力。该公司在星期三发布的报告中称，这些来自中国的帐户使用 AI 生成英文社群贴文，声称资料中心提高了美国人的电费。OpenAI 将此活动称为「Data Center Bandwagon」，并表示帐户可能连结到一家未具名的中国私人科技公司，该公司为中国省级政府客户工作。

OpenAI 指出，这些贴文传播范围不广，但凸显外国行动者可能试图削弱美国战略性国内产业。美国资料中心原本多年享有税务优惠，但随著 AI 需求急升，地方社群对新建和扩建设施的反弹增加。根据 Data Center Watch，2025 年美国地方反对已阻止或延宕数十个专案，涉及潜在投资超过 1,500 亿美元。

反对情绪主要来自对水资源压力、电价上升以及 AI 对生计影响的担忧。OpenAI 调查员 Ben Nimmo 强调，这不是影响行动创造了辩论，而是中国来源的影响行动试图介入既有辩论。OpenAI 称，类似主题可能持续吸引中国来源的影响行动，因其可嵌入合法公共争论，并推动受众不信任美国机构、科技公司与民主政策选择。

OpenAI said a group of ChatGPT accounts tied to China tried to stir local opposition to US data centers, potentially to weaken American competitiveness in artificial intelligence. In a report released Wednesday, the company said the China-origin accounts used AI to create English-language social media posts claiming data centers were raising electricity costs for Americans. OpenAI called the campaign “Data Center Bandwagon” and said the accounts were likely linked to an unnamed private Chinese technology company serving Chinese provincial-level government clients.

OpenAI said the posts had limited reach, but highlighted how foreign actors may try to undermine a strategic domestic industry. US data centers had received tax breaks for years, but local resistance has grown as AI demand drives plans for larger new facilities. According to Data Center Watch, local opposition in 2025 blocked or delayed dozens of US projects representing more than $150 billion in potential investment.

The backlash is driven by concerns over water strain, rising power bills, and AI’s impact on livelihoods. OpenAI investigator Ben Nimmo stressed that the influence operation did not create the debate, but tried to interfere in an existing one from China. OpenAI said similar themes may remain attractive to China-origin influence operations because they can enter legitimate public debates while nudging audiences toward distrust of US institutions, technology companies, and democratic policy choices.