US Watchdog Investigates OpenAI for Possible Consumer Protection Violations

The maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI, is facing an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over potential consumer protection law violations. The company is being scrutinised for damaging people's reputations with its responses and misusing personal data.

This investigation represents the most significant regulatory challenge yet for OpenAI, a company that has gained widespread popularity for its generative artificial intelligence technology. While consumers and businesses have been captivated by its capabilities, concerns have been raised regarding the potential risks it poses.

The FTC has issued a detailed request for information from OpenAI, concerning how the company manages the risks associated with its AI models. The focus of the probe is to determine if OpenAI has engaged in unfair or deceptive practices that have resulted in reputational harm to consumers.

In addition to exploring OpenAI's practices, the FTC is also requesting that the company disclose the data used to train its large language models, which are the foundation for products like ChatGPT. 

OpenAI has thus far declined to provide this information, and even faces legal action from authors such as comedian Sarah Silverman, who allege that their work has been included in the training data without permission.

The FTC's demand extends to discovering how OpenAI acquired the data, whether it was sourced directly from the internet through scraping or purchased from third parties. Furthermore, they seek to know which websites the data was obtained from and any measures taken by OpenAI to prevent the inclusion of personal information in the training data.

- CyberBeat