The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into ChatGPT creator OpenAI and whether the artificial intelligence company violated consumer protection laws by scraping public data and publishing false information through its chatbot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency sent OpenAI a 20-page letter requesting detailed information on its AI technology, products, customers, privacy safeguards and data security arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An FTC spokesperson had no comment on the investigation, which was first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0FTC document the Post published\u00a0told OpenAI that the agency was investigating whether it has \u201cengaged in unfair or deceptive privacy or data security practices\u201d or practices harming consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OpenAI founder Sam Altman tweeted disappointment that the investigation was disclosed in a \u201cleak,\u201d noting that would \u201cnot help build trust,\u201d but added that the company will\u00a0work with the FTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s super important to us that out technology is safe and pro-consumer, and we are confident we follow the law,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWe protect user privacy and design our systems to learn about the world, not private individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OpenAI has faced scrutiny elsewhere. Italian regulators\u00a0temporarily blocked ChatGPT\u00a0over privacy concerns, and privacy watchdogs in France, Spain, Ireland and Canada also are paying closer attention, including some that have launched investigations after receiving complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FTC\u2019s move is a serious regulatory threat to the nascent but fast-growing AI industry, although it\u2019s not the only challenge facing these companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comedian Sarah Silverman and two other authors have\u00a0sued both OpenAI and Facebook parent Meta\u00a0for copyright infringement, claiming that the companies\u2019 AI systems were illegally \u201ctrained\u201d by exposing them to datasets containing illegal copies of their works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday, OpenAI and The Associated Press announced a deal under which the AI company will\u00a0license AP\u2019s archive of news stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Altman has emerged as a global AI ambassador of sorts following his\u00a0testimony before Congress in May\u00a0and a subsequent\u00a0worldwide tour, including\u00a0to Europe, where officials are putting the final touches on the world\u2019s first comprehensive rules for AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0regulations will focus on risky uses\u00a0such as predictive policing and social scoring and include provisions for generative AI to disclose any copyright material used to train its algorithms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Altman himself has\u00a0called for AI regulation, although he has tended to emphasize difficult-to-evaluate existential threats such as the possibility that superintelligent AI systems could one day\u00a0turn against humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some argue that focusing on a far-off \u201cscience fiction trope\u201d of superpowerful AI could make it harder to take action against already existing harms that require regulators to dig deep on data transparency, discriminatory behavior and potential for trickery and disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the fear of these systems and our lack of understanding of them that is making everyone have a collective freak-out,\u201d Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a Brown University computer scientist and former assistant director for science and justice at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told the AP in May. \u201cThis fear, which is very unfounded, is a distraction from all the concerns we\u2019re dealing with right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
News of the FTC\u2019s OpenAI investigation broke just hours after a\u00a0combative House Judiciary Committee hearing\u00a0in which FTC Chair Lina Khan faced off against Republican lawmakers, who said she has been too aggressive in pursuing technology companies over allegations of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans said she has been harassing Twitter since its acquisition by Elon Musk, arbitrarily suing large tech companies and declining to recuse herself from certain cases. Khan pushed back, arguing that more regulation is necessary as the companies have grown and that tech conglomeration could hurt the economy and consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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