Sichuan CSRC announced an administrative penalty decision on August 3, stating that a "95 post" investor, Sun, was fined 400,000 yuan and had his illegal gains of 85,000 yuan confiscated for using AI tools to fabricate and spread false information about a listed company's boiler failure in the production of soda ash, and then profiting from trading soda ash futures contracts. This is a rare case of AI fraud manipulating the futures market in publicly reported cases.

In November 2023, Sun used his controlled Baidu Baijia Hao account "Dikan" to publish 17 fake articles about soda ash production within two days using AI tools. The articles had a large readership and wide dissemination. The relevant listed company commissioned a law firm to issue a "Lawyer's Letter" to Sun, demanding that he immediately stop fabricating and spreading false information. However, during the period when Sun fabricated and spread these false pieces of information, he simultaneously conducted transactions in soda ash futures contracts, earning approximately 85,000 yuan after deducting handling fees.

Clear Intention, Regulatory Enforcement Red Lines Clearly Marked

The Sichuan CSRC determined that Sun fabricated and publicly spread multiple articles containing false information without verification, showing clear intention. Objectively, this disrupted the normal information dissemination order in the futures market and was clearly misleading to investors. Fabricating and spreading false futures information is explicitly prohibited by the Futures and Derivatives Law. The profits obtained during the illegal period should be recognized as illegal gains.

The regulatory authority also stated that when determining the penalty, full consideration was given to the nature, circumstances, social harm, and cooperation with the investigation of Sun's illegal behavior, and the penalty decision was appropriate. The signal meaning of this case goes beyond the amount of fines and confiscations - when AI makes the cost of mass-producing false information almost zero, the speed and intensity of regulatory enforcement are also increasing. Using AI to spread rumors for stock trading can result in losses far greater than the potential gains, which may be the most direct warning for those who wish to imitate such behavior.