A radio host is suing ChatGPT creator OpenAI, accusing the company of defamation, Bloomberg reports.
The outlet reports that earlier this week, Mark Walters filed a lawsuit in his home state of Georgia, claiming the AI chatbot accused him of defrauding and embezzling "in excess of $5,000,000" in funds from a non-profit organization.
Walter's legal complaint notes the information was generated in response to a request from a third party, a journalist named Fred Riehl who asked ChatGPT to summarize a federal course case that has nothing to do with Walters. Despite this, ChatGPT's response to Riehl's inquiry included some factually correct information but made several false allegations against Walters.
"ChatGPT's allegations concerning Walters were false and malicious, expressed in print, writing, pictures, or signs, tending to injure Walter's reputation and exposing him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule," the complaint reads.
This marks the second public mention of someone threatening/pursuing legal action against OpenAI after its chatbot generated false information about an individual. In April, an Australian mayor threatened to sue OpenAI after ChatGPT falsely claimed he was convicted of bribery.
AI chatbots like ChatGPT have been criticized for generating false information. There have been several cases where these chatbots providing false information has caused serious problems. Examples include a Texas college professor accusing his class of using ChatGPT and threatening to fail them. Another example includes two New York attorneys who are facing sanctions after citing fake legal cases in a court filing; the attorneys received these fake legal cases from ChatGPT.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.