OpenAI account compromised, hacker circulates fraudulent and fake crypto token posts on X

Artificial technology start-up OpenAI, on September 23, said that an unauthorised individual "compromised" one of its official accounts on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Bloomberg reported.

The company said that its account @OpenAINewsroom on X was compromised on September 23 and the unauthorized individual sent out posts "soliciting users to click through to a crypto token falsely claiming to be related to the startup", the report said.

OpenAI said it was aware of the issue, and was looking into it, Bloomberg reported.

Fake Posts Made

The hacked account reportedly saw “fake” posts at around 7 pm New York-time, and were visible for at least an hour before being deleted, as per the report.

Earlier on September 23 morning, a member of OpenAI’s security staff send employees an internal memo warning them about a rise in recent account takeovers involving the company's staff, the report said. The memo also adviced employees and shared a guide on how to secure their accounts, a source familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, told Bloomberg.

Not First Time

Prior to this too, an OpenAI linked account has become victim to instamnce of fraudulent crypto-related post.

On September 22, OpenAI researcher Jason Wei’s account saw a post announcing a token called $OPENAI — this was fake. Even before, in June 2024, OpenAI's Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki’s account was hijacked; and in June 2023 too OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati’s account was briefly taken over as well.

OpenAI's New AI Model ‘Strawberry’ Coming Soon

In other news, OpenAI plans to release “Strawberry”, its reasoning-focused artificial intelligence, as part of its ChatGPT service this month, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people who have tested out the model.

Strawberry is different from other conversational AI because of its ability to “think” before responding, rather than immediately answering a query, according to the Information report.

Sam Altman-led OpenAI has propelled new interest and triggered heavy investments in AI, as businesses race to capitalize on the lucrative technology to boost their products.

(With inputs from Bloomberg and Reuters)