OpenAI Faces Libel Lawsuit over Chatbot Hallucinations

Artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI has been sued for libel over generating hallucinations. The issue arose after a journalist requested ChatGPT, an AI language model created by OpenAI, to summarise a legal case against the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), a US non-profit promoting gun rights. ChatGPT generated content that alleged Mark Walters had defrauded and embezzled funds from SAF, of which he has never been employed. Walters is a talk show host with Armed American Radio, a pro-firearms broadcast. Walters is obliged to prove malice or damages, but it remains to be seen whether he is considered a public or private figure in US libel law. The lawsuit also raises the question of whether OpenAI is protected under Section 230, which provides immunity from libel cases in the US to online platforms for user-generated content.