Why is the FTC investigating ChatGPT creator OpenAI?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has questions for OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI ChatGPT. The FTC has launched an investigation into the company to look at whether its products have violated consumer protection laws.

Specifically, the FTC wants to know how OpenAI assesses risks in its AI products and what actions it takes to prevent “hallucinations” (inaccurate statements) about real people. Investigators have requested information from the company on how it gets the data it trains its products on, as well as the training process itself. They also asked for a description of the complaints OpenAI has received on reported hallucinations by its products.

But that’s not all. The FTC also wants to look at documents detailing how OpenAI assesses the safety and risks of its products before they’re released publicly. This investigation is shaping up to be the biggest regulatory hurdle OpenAI has faced, and the results could lead to significant impacts on future AI regulation and development.