How Claude AI was misused to amplify praise for CS Wandayi

How Claude AI was misused to amplify praise for CS Wandayi. [File, Standard]

An investigation by US-based AI company Anthropic found that Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi was among Kenyan political figures whose work was praised in AI-generated social media posts designed to make coordinated political messages appear as spontaneous public opinion.

In its report, Anthropic said it had found a pro-government operator based in Kenya using Claude AI to generate and post fake grassroots social media content ahead of the country’s 2027 General Election.

The operator used Claude across several sessions to generate batches of exactly 50 tweets, explicitly instructing the AI tool to make the posts appear as “spontaneous grassroots commentary rather than a coordinated campaign.”

Many of the AI-generated tweets praised Wandayi for stopping a scheduled Kenya Power electricity tariff hike.

The campaign used the hashtags #PowerReliefKE and #PoweringTheNewKenya to boost the posts' visibility on X.

Anthropic said the operator also pushed stories claiming that Kenya’s United Opposition coalition was breaking apart ahead of the 2027 General Election, directly targeting politicians including Rigathi Gachagua and former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The targeting of Gachagua and other United Alternative Government figures comes as they increased their criticism of President William Ruto’s administration.

President Ruto and his allies have been on record claiming that the opposition does not have a plan or agenda for the country and that its work is focused on criticising his administration.

On the other hand, retired President Kenyatta has faced heavy criticism from Ruto and his allies drawn from the ruling UDA and ODM parties and their affiliates over alleged involvement in politics.

At one point, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei threatened to sponsor a Bill that would see Kenyatta lose his retirement benefits over alleged involvement in politics.

There have also been claims that Kenyatta has been funding the Linda Mwananchi faction of the opposition, which is led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Siaya Governor James Orengo.

Anthropic said its investigation revealed a highly structured, manufactured grassroots campaign, with identical and unified messages about the tariff increase pushed across different conversations.

However, the company said the activity was isolated within the network of fake accounts and local influencers on a single platform and failed to reach or influence any real people.

Anthropic evaluated the impact of the network using its Breakout Scale and classified it as Category One, with no evidence of government involvement in the operation found.

“We found no evidence of government involvement, and the activity appears consistent with an entirely domestic Kenyan operation,” Anthropic said.

The investigation also found that the actor used the same AI workflow to push content for Kenyan retail brands under a marketing persona identified as “SHANKI”/“Elkins Marketer.”

Anthropic said the tone of the campaign and the hashtags pointed to a user aligned with the ruling coalition, although there was no evidence of direct government involvement.

On marketing, the investigation found that Kenyan brands were paying influencers to shape narratives about their products.