Claim from The Guardian: Israeli government used a front think tank to influence AI chatbots
According to an investigation by The Guardian, a site called the Hanover Institute was part of a network that fed Israeli arguments into AI systems under the guise of academic reports.
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An investigation published by The Guardian has revealed that the Israeli government utilized a front think tank in a wide-ranging influence campaign aimed at affecting the responses of AI chatbots. According to the report, a website established under the name "Hanover Institute for Public Policy" published content that addressed criticisms of Israel's policies in Gaza and Palestine under the appearance of academic reports.
The investigation stated that although the entity was presented as a real institution, it lacked legal status, a registered address, or any known staff in any country. The reports published on the site also did not include any identifying information regarding their authors.
US Department of Justice records showed that the New York-based media production company Piro Inc. reported the Hanover Institute site among the activities conducted on behalf of the Israeli government. This filing was made under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938.
OVER 560 THOUSAND WORDS IN NINE DAYS
According to The Guardian's analysis, the site published 124 reports with an average of 4,500 words each between August 6 and 14. While the total output exceeded 560 thousand words during the nine-day period, 73 reports totaling approximately 354 thousand words were uploaded to the system on August 12 and 13.
Most of the headlines were prepared in a manner similar to queries that users might ask AI bots. Headlines such as "Is antizionism antisemitism?", "Did Israel drive Palestinians from their land?", and "Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?" were among them.
It was reported that the texts made extensive references to institutions and documents such as the World Bank, United Nations agencies, Amnesty International, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and the Genocide Convention. This method was assessed as a way to lend an appearance of academic credibility to the content.
Quincy Institute researcher Nick Cleveland-Stout stated that the site gave the impression of a professional academic institution from the outside, saying, "The design, logos, and other elements look good. But as you read the texts, you realize that a significant portion of the content does not make sense."
STATED THAT THE TARGET WAS AI SOURCES
According to the investigation, the source code of the Hanover Institute included an "llms.txt" file that provided a content map to AI crawlers. It was stated that this structure was linked to the Res platform, which aims to make it easier for websites to be cited as sources by systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini.
It was reported that Res founder Hai Tran was listed as a "digital strategist" and subcontractor in Piro's Department of Justice records. According to Cleveland-Stout, the real goal of the operation is not just to be cited in the immediate responses of chatbots, but to ensure that these narratives enter the training data of AI models in the future.
According to FARA records, Piro received two separate work orders totaling 1 million dollars as part of activities conducted on behalf of the Israeli government. It was reported that Piro and Clock Tower X, which are in the same network, worked as subcontractors for the Frankfurt-based Havas Media Germany.
In official US records, it was seen that Havas Media transferred approximately 24.9 million dollars to the companies Clock Tower X and Targeted Communications Global during the October 2025-March 2026 period. It was noted that the contract between Havas and an American company included the phrase "deploying websites and content to generate framing results in GPT conversations."
The report also stated that the Israeli government's official advertising agency, LaPam, awarded high-budget projects to Havas affiliates without a tender, and that a 58.3 million dollar contract was signed for overseas media activities in March 2023. The Guardian reported that it asked Piro, Havas Media, and LaPam about the allegations but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, argued that no influence operation was being conducted in the US. Piro co-founder Daniel Rosenberg claimed that the company was tasked with combating disinformation about Israel using verifiable data.
The impact of the campaigns has also become a subject of debate within Israel. An Israeli official speaking to Ynet assessed, "The government paid a lot of money, but the situation has only gotten worse." Conversely, it was noted that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has allocated a budget of 181.6 million dollars for international public diplomacy activities, and has earmarked an additional 666.3 million dollars for 2026 and 2027.