ChatGPT chief pledges to work with FTC as federal probe begins

The CEO of the company behind artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT has pledged to work with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), even as he criticized how news of the agency’s probe of the company became public.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s response came after the agency’s request for documents from the company about the AI chatbot was first reported Thursday by The Washington Post. 

“[I]t is very disappointing to see the FTC’s request start with a leak and does not help build trust,” Altman tweeted.

“[T]hat said, it’s super important to us that [our] technology is safe and pro-consumer, and we are confident we follow the law. [O]f course we will work with the FTC,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the FTC for further comment.

The Post had reported that the FTC’s expansive request to OpenAI seeks descriptions of complaints to the company as well as records related to a security incident disclosed in March.

Altman said GPT-4, the language model powering ChatGPT, was built “on top of years of safety research” and the company spent more than six months after the “initial training” to make it “safer and more aligned before releasing it.” 

“[W]e protect user privacy and design our systems to learn about the world, not private individuals,” Altman wrote.

“[W]e’re transparent about the limitations of our technology, especially when we fall short,” he continued. “…our capped-profits structure means we aren’t incentivized to make unlimited returns.” 

The FTC’s request is the latest — and seemingly most direct — regulatory threat to OpenAI as the federal government races to regulate the booming AI industry.

FTC Chair Lina Khan and other agency heads have pledged to use existing authority under law to hold AI technology accountable as Congress weighs new legislation. 

In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in June released a framework for AI regulation and is working with a bipartisan group of senators closely on the issue.

Earlier this week, senators participated in a classified briefing with top intelligence and defense officials to hear about risks and opportunities of the technology. 

Senators on both sides of the aisle shared concerns about the technology, but there is not yet a clear, broad bipartisan consensus on a legislative path to regulate AI.