FTC Files Complaint Against OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Tech ethics group, Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy, is asking the Federal Trade Commission to force OpenAI to halt any new commercial releases of GPT-4. Filed on March 30th, the complaint to the agency is citing “biased, deceptive, and a risk to privacy and public safety” as their chief concerns; and why they believe that the federal agency should step in. More specifically, OpenAI is violating the FTC Act through its releases of the LLMs.

Researchers from the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy are asking that OpenAI be required to allow for independent reviews of GPT products and services before being launched. All of this comes a few days after over 1,000 tech leaders and researchers signed an open letter requesting a six-month suspension of further research into LLMs more powerful than GPT-4 citing systematic and societal concerns about the possible effects of any LLM of that scale.

Much of the concern surrounding GPT-4, Google’s Bard, and other LLMs centers on inaccurate statements, bias, and more that users can find. This comes a few days after FTC Chair Lina Khan stated that the agency will be paying close attention to developments in artificial intelligence to ensure the field isn’t dominated by the major tech platforms. Also, back in late February, the FTC’s Michael Atleson, Attorney within the FTC Division of Advertising Practices, warned businesses in a blog post that make exaggerated or false claims about their AI products to be cautious.

Though it seems clear that eyes from the agency are focusing on AI, and more specifically large language models such as GPT-4, it doesn’t mean that the agency will step in and take action. This is because if the FTC does so, it could result in a chilling effect on AI development in the United States. So unless OpenAI is found to be in violation of any standard regulation or laws, this complaint, though interesting, will likely not go far.

So far, companies such as Microsoft, and Google, are utilizing the power of LLMs to empower existing services through generative AI-powered tools. How this will disrupt the markets and industries, is still too early to tell. But this is why the calls for greater research into responsible AI have grown within the data science community.