NYT reports first autonomous AI-run online influence campaigns

The New York Times reports that online influence campaigns have been run with autonomous AI for the first time at this scale. According to the report, the campaigns paired Chinese open-source AI models with AI agents.

The newspaper says the actors behind this approach include Iran and China, along with Israeli firms. NYT frames the setup as a preview of how future online manipulation is likely to be built.

What the combination changes

The technical point is the pairing itself. Open-weight models can be run on an operator's own infrastructure, while an agent architecture can chain content generation and distribution steps without a person in the loop. That is where the word "autonomous" in the report comes from.

The material available here is limited to the summary of the NYT story. It does not specify which platforms were targeted, which models were used, how long the campaigns ran, or how far they reached, so no figures or names are given above.

Full report: The New York Times.