OpenAI Disables ‘Browse with Bing’ Feature on ChatGPT Plus due to Paywall Bypassing
OpenAI, the organization behind the advanced AI language model ChatGPT, has temporarily disabled the recently introduced feature called Browse with Bing on its paid subscription service, ChatGPT Plus. The decision came after users discovered they could exploit the feature to access paywalled articles without a subscription.
The issue was first brought to light on the r/ChatGPT Reddit thread when a user posted a screenshot showing ChatGPT providing the full text of an article from The Atlantic, which would typically require a subscription to access. Browse with Bing is exclusively available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers who pay a monthly fee of $20 and provides web browsing capabilities, allowing users to retrieve information from the internet. In contrast, free ChatGPT accounts only provide data up until 2021.
OpenAI had initially released Browse with Bing to Plus accounts in May, along with several other plugins designed to enhance the output of its generative AI tool. Last week, the organization announced that the feature was fully available to all users, though it was still labeled as a beta product.
However, just a few days after its broader release, OpenAI disabled Browse with Bing on July 3 due to the paywall bypassing issue. The option to use the feature no longer appears in the drop-down menu for ChatGPT Plus users when interacting with GPT-4, the most advanced variant of ChatGPT.
In response to the discovery, OpenAI expressed gratitude towards ChatGPT Plus subscribers for their participation in testing the browsing feature. The organization acknowledged the value of user feedback and emphasized its intention to bring back the feature soon. OpenAI also drew a parallel to Google’s similar tool, Google Bard, which is labeled as an experiment and comes with a disclaimer warning users about potential inaccuracies and offensive information.
While circumventing paywalls would generally violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when done by humans, it remains uncertain how AI-enabled actions in this regard would be addressed legally. Copyright law currently does not cover AI-generated content, but a lawsuit seeking to challenge this is ongoing. Nevertheless, OpenAI disabled the feature without reference to potential legal repercussions and instead highlighted its commitment to respecting content owners.
The incident sheds light on the challenges posed by AI with regard to existing security and legal frameworks on the web. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and a co-founder of OpenAI, recently emphasized the need for advanced authentication methods, citing AI’s ability to easily pass CAPTCHA puzzles that are commonly used to verify human users.
OpenAI’s decision to disable Browse with Bing demonstrates their dedication to addressing user concerns, protecting content owners’ rights, and ensuring the responsible development of AI technologies. While the feature is temporarily unavailable, OpenAI aims to reinstate it once the issues have been resolved.
