Tech Ethics for AI and Digital Policy requests that the US FTC prohibit OpenAI from releasing new commercial versions of GPT-4.
WASHINGTON:
The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy is petitioning the US Federal Trade Commission to prevent OpenAI Chat GPT from issuing new commercial releases of GPT-4, whose human-like responses to queries have impressed some users and alarmed others.
The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy labelled GPT-4 “biassed, deceptive, and a threat to privacy and public safety” in a Thursday complaint to the agency, which is available on the organization’s website.
OpenAI, a California-based company backed by Microsoft Corp, unveiled the fourth version of its GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) artificial intelligence programme in early March. This programme has excited users by engaging them in human-like conversation, composing songs, and summarising lengthy documents.
The formal complaint to the FTC follows an open letter signed by Elon Musk, artificial intelligence experts, and industry executives that requested a six-month moratorium on the development of systems more powerful than OpenAI’s newly launched GPT-4, citing potential risks to society.
In its complaint, the group stated that OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 does not meet the FTC’s requirements of being “transparent, explainable, fair, and empirically sound while promoting accountability.”
One AI researcher discovered it was possible to “take over someone’s account, view their chat history, and access their billing information without their knowledge,” the group said in its complaint.
Marc Rotenberg, president of CAIDP and a veteran privacy advocate, expressed concern that commercial pressures were forcing the company to release an unfinished product.
“Open AI does not comply with FTC guidelines, and there are also concerns that the product is unfair and deceptive,” said Rotenberg, one of more than 1,000 signatories of the letter urging a halt to AI experiments.
The group urged the FTC to “open an investigation into OpenAI, halt future commercial releases of GPT-4, and establish necessary safeguards to protect consumers, businesses, and the commercial marketplace.”
