OpenAI Sued For Using “Stolen” Data To Train ChatGPT

OpenAI is being sued for using personal and stolen data to train ChatGPT.

Clarkson Law Firm, a California law firm filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging that ChatGPT and Dall-E “use stolen private information, including personally identifiable information, from hundreds of millions of internet users, including children of all ages, without their informed consent or knowledge.”

OpenAI used information from the internet to train its AIs, including personal information and posts from social media like Reddit and Twitter. The problem is that sites like Wikipedia and Reddit include personal information, and the datasets are available if companies follow the protocols to ask, purchase and use the data. Even when personal information is public in platforms such as Twitter, if the data is used outside the platform, it can be considered a violation of privacy. The law firm claims that Open AI “did so in secret, and without registering as a data broker as it was required to do under applicable law.”

Since ChatGPT’s launch, OpenAI has been the subject of controversy. It is banned in Italy, using Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation. Until recently, there was no explicit way for users to choose if OpenAI should use their conversations to train the model.

The firm said that it’s critical to act with existing laws instead of waiting for new regulations. They express that we can’t afford to pay the price of negative outcomes with AI like we’ve done with social media.