Northern District of California files lawsuit
OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, is being sued for allegedly collecting millions of customers' data to train its algorithms. The Northern District of California lawsuit claims that OpenAI used "stolen private information, including personally identifiable information," from hundreds of millions of internet users to construct its AI products, such as chatbot ChatGPT and picture generator Dall-E.
The lawsuit indicates OpenAI grew from a non-profit research facility to a firm that unlawfully steals millions of users' personal information to train its tools. The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of posing a "potentially catastrophic risk to humanity."
Lawsuit claims OpenAI violated ethics
It claims that OpenAI chose "to pursue profit at the expense of privacy, security, and ethics" and "doubled down on a strategy to secretly harvest massive amounts of personal data from the internet, including private information and private conversations, medical data, information about children — every piece of data exchanged on the internet it could take-without notice to the public."
According to the lawsuit, "[OpenAI's] Products would not be the multibillion-dollar business they are today without this unprecedented theft of private and copyrighted information belonging to real people, communicated to unique communities, for specific purposes, targeting specific audiences."
OpenAI is accused of stealing all inputs into its AI tools, including prompts people feed ChatGPT; users' account information, including their names, contact details, and login credentials; payment information; data pulled from users' browsers, including their physical locations; chat and search data; keystroke data, and more.
Microsoft listed in the lawsuit
Microsoft, another OpenAI partner listed in action, did not respond. OpenAI did not immediately reply to a request for comment from CBS MoneyWatch. This lawsuit raises serious concerns regarding the ethics of data collecting and use in artificial intelligence research.
As AI advances and becomes more integrated into our daily lives, firms must be clear about their data collection practices and ensure that individuals' privacy and rights are respected. The case against OpenAI emphasizes the importance of increased accountability and openness in artificial intelligence. Corporations creating AI tools must be accountable for their activities and prioritize individual privacy and security.