FTC Investigates ChatGPT for Potential Tech Harms

Maker of ChatGPT, OpenAi will face the investigation from the Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into OpenAI, the artificial intelligence startup that makes ChatGPT. The agency says It's looking into whether the AI tool has harmed people by generating incorrect information about them. In a 20-page letter sent to the San Francisco company this week, the agency said it was also looking into OpenAI's security practices.

ChatGPT has grown in popularity since its inception. It is an artificial intelligence robot created by OpenAI that will be released in November 2022. It is based on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 big language model families, and it has been fine-tuned using both supervised and reinforcement learning methods.

The Investigation, which was first reported by the Washington Post, is also looking into OpenAI's privacy and data security practices. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the investigation.

The FTC probe Into the Microsoft Corp.-backed startup marks the first official inquiry into a generative AI tool. FTC Chair Lina Khan, who testified before Congress on Thursday, has been a vocal critic of the popular AI chatbot, warning that regulators must "be vigilant early" in the field of artificial intelligence.

Sam Altman, the startup's co-founder, testified in Congress in May and said he invited AI legislation to oversee the fast-growing industry, which is under scrutiny because of how the technology can potentially kill jobs and spread disinformation. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. The FTC declined to comment on the nonpublic investigation. Microsoft also declined to comment.