ChatGPT Could Face Defamation Lawsuits for Making Up Facts About People

Is ChatGPT spreading falsehoods about you? The AI program might be exposing itself to a wave of defamation lawsuits for its tendency to make up facts, including about people’s reputations. 

As Reuters reports(Opens in a new window), a mayor in Australia, Brian Hood, has threatened to sue ChatGPT’s developer, OpenAI, because the program has been mistakenly claiming he pleaded guilty in a bribery scandal back in the 2000s.

Hood was actually the whistleblower behind the bribery scandal, which involved a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and he was never charged with a crime. According to Reuters, Hood’s lawyers sent a letter to OpenAI on March 21, demanding they correct the error in 28 days or face a defamation lawsuit. 

(Credit: ChatGPT)

San Francisco-based OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But ChatGPT continues to claim that Hood served prison time, if you prompt the program to ask about his involvement in the bribery scandal 

Hood isn’t the one who’s encountered ChatGPT slandering their reputation. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, found ChatGPT making up that he had been accused of sexually harassing his students. 

As evidence, ChatGPT cited a Washington Post article that claimed the incident had occurred during a trip with students to Alaska. However, Turley wrote(Opens in a new window): “It was a surprise to me since I have never gone to Alaska with students, The Post never published such an article, and I have never been accused of sexual harassment or assault by anyone.”

In its defense, OpenAI has said it’s working to develop ChatGPT responsibly, and prevent it from spreading misinformation, However, Turley fears ChatGPT and other AI programs could unleash a wave of falsehoods that could ruin reputations and lives, without giving victims any way to redress the problem.  

“You can be defamed by AI and these companies merely shrug that they try to be accurate. In the meantime, their false accounts metastasize across the Internet,” Turley tweeted(Opens in a new window).