ChatGPT is in trouble as the Center for AI and Digital Policy has filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission, accusing OpenAI of violating section five of the FTC Act.
This section prohibits unfair and deceptive trade practices. The complaint argues that the FTC should investigate OpenAI and its AI model, ChatGPT which has rapidly gained popularity.
The FTC recently updated the act to include language directed at AI developers. The agency warned developers to avoid exaggerating their capabilities, making deceptive performance claims, or promising superiority over non-AI products without adequate proof.
The Center for AI and Digital Policy was established in 2020 as a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, under the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation. Its founder and president, Marc Rotenberg, believes that the FTC has a responsibility to investigate and prohibit unfair and deceptive trade practices.
The Center’s filing comes shortly after several high-profile tech industry members, including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and Andrew Yang, signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on developing AI systems more potent than ChatGPT.
The FTC has been warning about unethical uses of emerging technologies like AI and blockchain since 2017.
The agency has urged developers to explore potential risks and impacts before launching their products. The FTC also reminded developers that they are responsible for knowing the reasonably foreseeable risks and impacts of their AI product before putting it on the market.
The agency emphasized that developers cannot blame a third-party developer of the technology or claim that the technology is a ‘black box’ they cannot understand or didn’t know how to test.
UNESCO also released a statement calling for a global ethical framework for AI. In November 2021, the 193 Member General Conference voted to establish a global standard for AI ethics by adopting the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.
This framework aims to safeguard and advance human rights and dignity while serving as an ethical guide and foundation for promoting adherence to the rule of law in the digital realm.
The Center for AI and Digital Policy and OpenAI have not responded to any news outlets requests for comment on the matter. The world needs stronger ethical rules for AI, said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, emphasizing that this is the challenge of our time
Chat GPT Summary
In summary, the Center for AI and Digital Policy has filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission, accusing OpenAI of violating section five of the FTC Act by making deceptive performance claims with its AI model, GPT-4. The FTC has been warning developers about the potential risks and impacts of AI and reminding them of their responsibility to understand their products’ reasonably foreseeable risks.