OpenAI, the AI company known for its chatbot ChatGPT, announced it’s temporarily turning off the ‘Browse with Bing’ feature due to content-related concerns.

This feature was available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, allowing the chatbot to search Bing for recent information to enhance its knowledge.

“We have discovered that the ‘ChatGPT Browse with Bing’ beta could sometimes showcase content in ways that don’t align with our intent,” OpenAI stated in its official announcement. “For instance, there have been instances where the feature might inadvertently fulfill a request for the full text of a URL.”

This move follows a wave of recent lawsuits against OpenAI, challenging copyright and privacy laws.

Copyright & Privacy Disputes

OpenAI is embroiled in multiple legal disputes.

A recent legal complaint alleges that OpenAI used copyright-protected books as data to train AI systems without getting permission from or paying the authors.

This allegation, labeled Tremblay v. OpenAI Inc., puts forth that ChatGPT can summarize the authors’ works, thereby suggesting it has absorbed the contents of the copyrighted books.

Another lawsuit over alleged data theft, PM v. OpenAI LP, accuses OpenAI of collecting data from hundreds of millions of users without obtaining appropriate consent.

The claim states that OpenAI has collaborated with platforms like Snapchat, Spotify, Stripe, Slack, and Microsoft Teams to gather user data covertly.

Legal Outcomes Could Steer AI’s Future

These cases can potentially reshape the future of AI by establishing key legal precedents around privacy and copyright.

Should the court rule in favor of the plaintiffs, OpenAI could face financial penalties.

Additionally, regulators might increase scrutiny of OpenAI, leading to tighter regulations.

On the one hand, a ruling against OpenAI could stifle AI innovation. If companies are slapped with hefty fines every time an AI system slips up, it may discourage continued progress.

On the other hand, there’s an argument that regulation and accountability are necessary to ensure AI is developed safely and for the right purposes.

In Summary

The ChatGPT Plus ‘Browse With Bing’ feature is turned off “out of an abundance of caution.”

OpenAI says it’s fixing the feature “in order to do right by content owners,” and will bring it back as soon as possible.

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