Due to a possible violation of consumer protection laws, the US antitrust authorities have initiated investigations against the company OpenAI. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating allegations that the popular chatbot ChatGPT compromises personal data and people’s reputations, according to a 20-page letter from the agency to the Microsoft holding. In doing so, she requests comprehensive information on how OpenAI deals with the risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI). One question asked what measures the company was taking to prevent “false, misleading or defamatory statements about real people”. At first she had Washington Post reported on the investigation.
FTC chairwoman Lina Khan, who testified before the US Congress on Thursday, has expressed concerns about artificial intelligence. With transformative tools of this kind, you have to be “vigilant at an early stage,” according to the lawyer who appointed US President Joe Biden to head the antitrust authority in 2021. The only 34-year-old scientist was previously known for her contributions to antitrust and competition law, in which she dealt with the online retail giant Amazon, among other things.
The FTC, like Microsoft, declined to comment on the investigation. OpenAI could not initially be reached for comment. The investigations begin at a moment when AI pioneers as well as OpenAI boss Sam Altman himself are warning of the dangers of technology and some are suggesting a pause in the market launch of new products. However, such statements are also seen as an attempt to weaken far-reaching political regulation, for example in Europe, through sympathetic statements.
So-called generative AI is trained with vast amounts of data, which are often collected from the Internet. This also includes personal entries on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. In addition, all inquiries and information provided by users flow into the database. For this reason, Google, whose ChatGPT rival “Bard” is now also available in Germany, is confronted with a billion-dollar lawsuit in the USA. The plaintiffs accuse the Alphabet subsidiary of using unauthorized personal and copyrighted information to train its AI and are demanding at least five billion dollars in damages.