OpenAI Faces FTC Complaint Over Alleged Biased and Deceptive AI Practices

The Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), a nonprofit research group, has lodged a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the agency to investigate OpenAI and halt the commercial deployment of its large language models, including the widely-used tool, ChatGPT.

Made public on Thursday, the complaint accuses OpenAI of breaching Section 5 of the FTC Act, which outlaws unfair and deceptive business practices, as well as violating the agency's AI product guidelines. CAIDP argues that GPT-4 is "biased, deceptive, and a risk to privacy and public safety," claiming that the AI model falls short of the FTC's requirements for transparency, explainability, fairness, and empirical soundness while promoting accountability.

In response, CAIDP is pressing the FTC to mandate independent assessment of future GPT products before deployment, create a public incident reporting system for GPT-4, and embark on a rulemaking initiative to establish generative AI product standards.

CAIDP President Marc Rotenberg is among several notable signatories of an open letter released Wednesday, which calls for at least a six-month pause on training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. Other signatories include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

OpenAI has yet to comment on the complaint, and the FTC has declined to provide a statement.