In an announcement that sent shockwaves across the tech world, OpenAI, the pioneering artificial intelligence firm, revealed its decision to not use any customer data for training its large-language models such as GPT anymore. The update to their terms of service was quietly issued on March 1. CEO Sam Altman elucidated on their move, explaining that customers had requested OpenAI to not train on their data.
OpenAI’s own business customers, such as Microsoft, Salesforce, and Snapchat, stand to benefit significantly from this decision. OpenAI’s APIs, which allow customers to directly plug into their software, are an essential aspect of their business and these customers are likely to use their API capabilities.
However, the terms of service clarify that OpenAI will not use any customer’s data if they have unsubscribed to the API services. Content from other sources — such as text an individual entered into ChatGPT — may also be used.
Though it is largely seen as a positive decision, there is widespread fear of AI chatbots and their potential to replace human content-creation. This has become an alarming situation, especially for the Writer’s Guild of America which recently declared a strike after their unsuccessful negotiation with movie studios. Moreover, there have been reports of companies, including Amazon, discouraging their workers from sharing confidential information in ChatGPT.
OpenAI, which was co-founded by tech titan and investor, Barry Diller, CTO Greg Brockman, and ex-Tesla engineer, Ilya Sutskever, is among the world’s most renowned AI companies. Altman, in his announcement, stressed the importance of protecting creative content from OpenAI’s software.
OpenAI’s orignal mission was to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return. It is thus a welcome development that the company has taken a progressive step in the right direction to protect customer information.
