Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, July 13 (Xinhua)-- the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently launched a full investigation into San Francisco-based company OpenAI because its popular chat robot, ChatGPT, may have violated consumer protection laws and put personal reputation and data at risk, the Washington Post reported.

FTC sent the company a 20-page record request (demand for record) to explain how to deal with the risks posed by its AI model, an investigation that poses a major regulatory threat to OpenAI's business in the US.

FTC stressed that although the government and Congress do not clearly define comprehensive regulatory rules, existing consumer protection laws still apply to AI. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer predicts that new AI legislation will still be months away.

FTC's request for records to OpenAI marks the agency's first concrete step in implementing these warnings. If FTC finds evidence of violating consumer protection laws, it can fine it and dictate how the company handles the data. CTOnews.com noted that FTC had established itself as the main Silicon Valley regulator, imposing heavy penalties on companies such as Meta, Amazon and Twitter for allegedly violating consumer protection laws.

In its record requirements, FTC specifically asked OpenAI to provide a detailed description of any complaint that its products made false, misleading, defamatory or harmful statements to individuals. FTC is investigating whether OpenAI has committed unfair or deceptive practices that have damaged consumers' reputations. In addition, the agency asked for records related to the security incident that occurred in March, which leaked some users' payment-related information and chat records. FTC is investigating whether OpenAI's data security practices violate consumer protection laws. OpenAI previously claimed in a blog post that only a very small number of users leaked their data to others.

The information FTC seeks from OpenAI also includes any research, testing or investigation that assesses consumers' understanding of the accuracy and reliability of the output generated by its AI tool, focusing on false statements generated by OpenAI's chatbots that may damage personal reputation. For example, ChatGPT wrongly accused a radio talk show host of legal claims, and OpenAI was sued for libel. ChatGPT also made up a sexual harassment scandal involving fictional stories and articles that did not exist in the The Washington Post. In addition to addressing these issues, FTC asked OpenAI to provide details of its products, advertising practices, policies and procedures for new product launches, and security measures to mitigate risks associated with large language models. The agency also asked OpenAI to provide a detailed description of the data used to train its models, as well as methods to solve its "hallucinations" or fabricate answers.

FTC's investigation of OpenAI means that the company faces major regulatory challenges, and the rapid growth of OpenAI's ChatGPT and its potential to generate harmful content have attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which seeks to enforce existing consumer protection laws. The findings of this investigation may help shape the future of artificial intelligence regulation in the United States.

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