The threat of bans and legislation looms over ChatGPT, but this is just the beginning of the regulatory challenges artificial intelligence (AI) can face around the world.
Italy became the first Western country to temporarily block ChatGPT on March 31st. In addition to concerns about the lack of age verification mechanisms, the Italian data protection authority said ChatGPT has no legal basis for collecting large amounts of personal data for training purposes. algorithm. But the threat to AI research is even more serious than ChatGPT or Italy.
Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University who specializes in technology and privacy, said:
The entire EU bloc operates under the same data protection laws. That means other European countries could take similar action against chatbots created by OpenAI and invested by Microsoft.
Germany’s Data Protection Commissioner is considering a similar ban, the commissioner reportedly told a German newspaper. French and Irish regulators are reportedly in talks with Italy, and Canada’s privacy commissioner yesterday (April 4) launched an investigation into OpenAI. In the US, President Joe Biden and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have expressed concerns about his AI. Last month, he surveyed the FTC for the AI policy think tank to investigate OpenAI.
Zanfir-Fortuna said the problem will get bigger.
Regulation May Be Too Slow to Address OpenAI Privacy Concerns
ChatGPT has taken the internet by storm in recent months due to its ability to conduct human-like conversations and provide information at a level that previous chatbots could not reach. A key concern for regulators is OpenAI’s lack of transparency about where the data that trains its algorithms comes from, said a senior at the Center for AI and Digital Policy, who co-authored the complaint to the FTC, according to his research. said his director, Merve Hickok.
On March 20th, a bug in ChatGPT allowed some users to view partial conversations and information from other users, such as email addresses and the last four digits of credit card numbers. Many technology leaders, including OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, have urged AI companies to develop new large-scale models, such as models that power ChatGPT, until they develop shared secure protocols. You are asking to pause language model training.
Some regulators are aiming to pass legislation to address these concerns, but that will take time and the AI race is moving fast, Hickok said. “I can’t wait, and I hope there will be regulation.” Instead, an AI ethics expert like Hickok believes that enforcement mechanisms already exist, like his FTC regulation on deceptive commercial practices. Focus on location.
“It’s not hard for companies to be more transparent,” she said. OpenAI can provide details on datasets and safety precautions and conduct independent audits. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in February that it would be subject to an independent audit.
Can ChatGPT be banned in the US?
In the United States, several states have proposed AI-related bills, but they must comply with the First Amendment, which allows free speech, Goldman said. Outright banning of this technology is unlikely due to issues with this right. “There are thousands of use cases for services like ChatGPT that do not violate privacy and are fully protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” he said.
The federal government can enact laws regulating the use of large language models, but so can individual states. As a result, companies like Google building OpenAI and similar products may have to comply with dozens of conflicting laws in different regions.
“We are at the same kind of fork in AI that we were on the Internet circa 1995,” he said. Decades ago, there were many legal risks to running an Internet business, so Congress passed Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, giving Internet companies legal protection. Section 230 has ruled that we are not responsible for third-party content hosted by websites, which is now being heard in the Supreme Court. But he said Web 2.0 has boomed as a result of Congress passing legislation.
Instead of imposing regulations on AI companies, Goldman said legislators should give them legal protections to grow. He said the legal threats to large language models are overwhelming. “If Congress does not provide legal protections for these services, we will ultimately not be able to enjoy the technology in the long term,” he said.
