ChatGPT Ban: Is There an Elephant in the Room for OpenAI?

‘ChatGPT Ban’ has become the latest trending tech rumor on the internet. But it might not be just a rumor as the fresh water is seemingly turning into a whirlpool, causing serious trouble for OpenAI, the parent organization behind ChatGPT. 

The euphoria started back in late December, when leading AI firm OpenAI, sprung a surprise as it rolled out an all-new natural language processing model named ChatGPT. Though AI-powered chatbots are nothing new, the world hadn’t seen anything of such sort earlier. 

Very soon, we started to experience something unprecedented — a whole new wave of AI-powered chatbots from different tech players, arriving on the scene. Salesforce joined hands with OpenAI itself, to create Einstein GPT. This was followed by the launch of another bunch of AI tools along with the more-advanced GPT-4 from OpenAI. 

But now, as it appears, there’s an elephant in the room for OpenAI. It’s on the verge of facing serious trouble as a complaint has been lodged with the FTC, urging it to investigate and suspend the AI chatbots from OpenAI. Let’s delve deeper with the story to discover what’s in store for OpenAI and how it might affect the AI  mad rush. Here we go! 

The AI-focused tech ethics group has accused OpenAI of violating a part of the FTC Act that prohibits unfair and deceptive business practices and the agency’s guidance for AI products. [Image Credit: OpenAI]

ChatGPT Ban: Is It Really on the Cards? 

It’s really a confusing time. On one hand there’s an unending wave of zombies in the form of AI tools and AI-powered chatbots, which started with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. On the other hand, there are shocking revelations, loads of controversies, critical discussions and serious findings, all of which call for a different looking glass to look at these recent developments, so far as AI is concerned.  

For your information, in the wake of the latest incidents regarding the intersections of AI tools (and chatbots) and human beings, which force us to do a reality check, a nonprofit research group named Center for AI and Digital Policy has filed a complaint to FTC against ChatGPT. 

The AI-focused tech ethics group has accused OpenAI of violating a part of the FTC Act that prohibits unfair and deceptive business practices and the agency’s guidance for AI products. It has reached out to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and urged it to thoroughly investigate the matter and eventually suspend ChatGPT. 

In a nutshell, OpenAI’s commercial deployment of large language models such as ChatGPT, is now under scanner. And FTC, which is the most-powerful regulatory body in the US, will now take a call on its fate. 

For the uninitiated, CAIDP President Marc Rotenberg has signed onto a vastly circulated open letter that calls for a halt of at least six months on “the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.” To make things worse for OpenAI, on Thursday, the nonprofit research group Center for AI and Digital Policy has made the complaint public, which puts the blame on OpenAI accusing the AI firm of violating Section 5 of the FTC Act. 

It has been learned that if the allegations are proven to be correct then the consequences would be extremely severe for OpenAI. We need to wait to see how it unfolds. 

But one thing is for sure. If OpenAI receives a jolt in the form of a ChatGPT ban then it would go on to become a major setback for the AI goldrush in general. From Microsoft Bing to GPT-4, everyone who is eyeing it big, would be forced to take a back seat. Hence, there’s a lot at stake. 

Don’t worry, we will have a close eye and keep you posted with exclusive updates. Meanwhile, stay tuned with us for the top stories from the world of tech.