The Center for AI and Digital Policy filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, accusing OpenAIācreator of the wildly popular ChatGPTāof violating section fiveĀ of the FTC Act that targets deceptive and unfair practices.
āThe FTC has a clear responsibility to investigate and prohibit unfair and deceptive trade practices,ā the centerās founder and president, Marc Rotenberg, said in a statement. āWe believe that the FTC should look closely at OpenAI and GPT-4.ā
Not coincidentally, the FTC updated the act last month to include language directed at developers of artificial intelligence programs like OpenAI. The agency advised 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 under the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovationāfounded by the former Massachusetts governor and failed Democratic U.S. presidential candidateāand is now a Washington, DC-based non-profit.
The FTC also warned developers to explore potential risks and impacts before launch.
āYou need to know about the reasonably foreseeable risks and impact of your AI product before putting it on the market,ā the agency wrote. āIf something goes wrongāmaybe it fails or yields biased resultsāyou canāt just blame a third-party developer of the technology. And you canāt say youāre not responsible because that technology is a āblack boxā you canāt understand or didnāt know how to test.ā
Since 2017, the FTC has sounded the alarm about unethical uses of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain, as the two have become more popular and mainstream.
The almost overnight popularity of GPT-4, the latest iteration of ChatGPT, has many questioning OpenAIās rapid dominance of the industry. The Center for AI and Digital Policy is asking the FTC to investigate OpenAI to determine if the company has complied with the FTCās rules.
The Centerās filing with the FTC comes days after several high-profile tech industry membersāincluding Telsa and Twitter CEO Elon Muskāco-signed an open letter demanding a pause on developing AI systems like OpenAIās GPT-4 platform.
āWe call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors,ā the letter said. āIf such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.ā
The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy is not alone in calling for investigations into AIās rapid development and the need for rules. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released its own statement Thursday calling for a āGlobal Ethical Framework.ā
In November 2021, the 193 Member States of UNESCOās General Conference voted to establish a global standard for artificial intelligence 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.
āThe world needs stronger ethical rules for artificial intelligence: this is the challenge of our time,ā UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said.
Decrypt contacted the Center for AI and Digital Policy and OpenAI for comment but has not heard back.
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