‘Biased, deceptive’: Center for AI accuses ChatGPT creator of violating trade laws

The Center for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy (CAIDP) has filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prevent the release of powerful AI systems to consumers. The complaint centered on OpenAI’s recently released large language model, GPT-4, which the CAIDP describes in its March 30 complaint as “biased, deceptive, and a risk to privacy and public safety.”

CAIDP, a non-profit research organization, claimed that the commercial release of GPT-4 violated Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.” To support its case, the AI ethics organization cited information from the GPT-4 System Card, which stated: “We discovered that the model has the potential to reinforce and reproduce specific biases and worldviews, including harmful stereotypical and demeaning associations for certain marginalized groups,” the researchers wrote.

“AI systems will have even greater potential to reinforce entire ideologies, worldviews, truths and untruths, and to cement or lock them in, foreclosing future contestation, reflection, and improvement,” according to the same document. CAIDP also stated that OpenAI released GPT-4 to the public for commercial use while fully aware of the risks, and that no independent assessment of GPT-4 was conducted prior to its release.

As a result, the CAIDP has requested that the FTC investigate the products of OpenAI and other operators of powerful AI systems: “It is past time for the FTC to take action […] CAIDP urges the FTC to open an investigation into OpenAI, enjoin further commercial releases of GPT-4, and ensure the establishment of necessary safeguards to protect consumers, businesses, and the commercial marketplace.”

While ChatGPT-3 was released in November, the most recent version, GPT-4, is said to be ten times smarter. A study published on March 14 found that GPT-4 could pass the most difficult US high school and law exams in the top 90th percentile. It can also detect Ethereum smart contract vulnerabilities, among other things. The complaint comes as Elon Musk, Apple’s Steve Wozniack, and a slew of AI experts signed a petition asking the Future of Life Institute to “pause” development on AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, which was introduced on March 22.

CAIDP president Marc Rotenberg was one of the petition’s 2600 signers. For better or worse, the authors argued that “advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth.” The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has also urged states to put the UN’s “Recommendation on the Ethics of AI” framework into action.

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